


Deep In The Heart

by BluebonnetDaniel



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: A little bit of everything, Christianity, Don’t copy to another site, Drama, F/F, Family, Friendship, High School, Jazz music references, Marching Band, Occasional slurs, Religious Themes, Rotating POV, School, Some Action, Some Humor, Some Romance, Texas, Texas AU, a lot of swearing, discussion of lgbt issues, mostly orange, original story- freeform, pop culture references, rarely goes lime, takes place during the 2014-2015 academic year, teen drama, there's an armadillo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2020-02-15 21:26:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 85,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18677677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluebonnetDaniel/pseuds/BluebonnetDaniel
Summary: A snarky, anti-social band student named Ashley finds a strange journal in her closet which allows her to access a mysterious parallel world. This kicks off a bizarre and turbulent journey, in which she finds herself leading the charge against a malevolent entity.No human characters from the Persona series, but the concepts and some of the Personas themselves are used. Mostly inspired by Persona 5.Additional tags will be added as they become relevant.(This is a reboot of something I had already posted. Same characters, but I changed up some of the story and made it first person.)





	1. The Chariot (August 17- Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Deep In The Heart (Old Version)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17516318) by [BluebonnetDaniel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluebonnetDaniel/pseuds/BluebonnetDaniel). 



> Note: This story should only be posted to Archive of our Own, Royal Road and Wattpad. If you find it anywhere else, please let me know.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edit 5/23: Fixed a few grammatical errors. While writing this I mixed up present tense with past tense a lot, so I fixed it in every place I could find. Also fixed grammatical errors in chapters 2 and 4.

“Entry date: August 17, 2014.

My name is Ashley Davis. As an experiment, I would like to begin keeping a private written journal. The key word there is ‘private.’ That means that if anyone else is reading this, you must close it and walk away right now. If I ever discover that you read past this point, you will be subjected to unimaginable pain. This is your last warning.”

I figured it was only fair to give the hypothetical snooper a true chance to back away now, so I made a page break and continued on the other side.

“I’m fourteen years old, and I pretty much already have my entire life together. I’m a straight-A student and have made impressive progress on playing multiple musical instruments. And yet, there is something that has plagued me for just over two years now. It has plagued me since I first moved to my current home in Enchantment City, Texas. And that thing is that I have a crush on someone.

Now, you may think that this is a pretty typical high school girl thing, and it happens to almost everyone, right? Perhaps you would suggest that I quit worrying and learn to express myself to this person, to tell them how I feel. Well, I’m here to say that the world is not that simple. What a blessed existence it must be, to simply walk up to the one you love, and just tell them how you feel. I would give quite a bit to have a life like that.

And the problem is not that I’m not a socially-minded person, although I would say that’s true. I prefer to focus on my academic and musical endeavors over social ones. Humans are prone to misfire, to forget, to attack without warning. But if I focus on being the best person I can be, it won’t matter. The world will have no choice but to accept my skills.

No, the real problem here is that I carry a hand grenade everywhere that I go. I take it to school with me during the week, and I take it back home afterwards. I take it to church on Sunday. I take it to every class, every rehearsal, every family gathering, every performance, etcetera. I was given a second chance when I moved here, and since then I have managed to prevent the grenade from being activated. But it’s a heavy burden to carry. And each day, I have felt my resentment rise ever so slightly.”

I stop for a minute to admire my work, to check it for any grammatical inaccuracies, and to appreciate how cleanly I managed to articulate myself.

And then, I watch every word I just wrote fade from the page, and it reverts to looking as if it had never been written on.

What the fuck? Nothing could have prepared me for something this utterly absurd. Immediately, I am on high alert, mulling over every possibility of what this could be. Am I dreaming? Is there something wrong with the paper, or the pencil? Is there some serious supernatural bullshit happening? Am I hallucinating?

And then, something appears in its place right before my eyes, something written in a loopy handwriting that is not my own.

“Hi Ashley. I am terribly sorry, but I just read what you wrote. I promise I didn’t mean to. I really didn’t have a choice.

I know exactly how you feel. You have to put on a facade to hide what it is that you truly are, because you believe that it is shameful, or at the very least everyone else does. It’s a horrid existence. I knew it once, for all too long.

I think that perhaps I can help you. I can tell you’re the type of girl who has a vision. Who wants to make an impact. If you follow my advice, you can do much more than you ever imagined was possible.” Then, after I had read it, the text faded, leaving the page blank once again.

Well. How do you respond to _that_?

Let’s start with a recap. So, I write my deepest trouble into this dusty old journal that was inexplicably sitting around in my closet. My writing disappears, and now disembodied text is telling me that it wants to… What? Give me therapy? Get me to do its bidding?

I do not have too much unusual supernatural experience. I’m a Christian, so obviously I believe in the supernatural, but… not THIS kind of supernatural.

My first inclination is not to trust this. This is some type of spirit trying to fuck with me, or worse. If it needs a vessel like this to talk to me, there’s no way that the nature of this thing is at all godly. On that note, I have already told this thing way too much. I should not give it any more personal information.

Further, I wonder if I shouldn’t just destroy this book right now. Then again, with no basilisk fangs lying at my ready, who knows if an object such as this even could be destroyed.

Ultimately, I decide to try and question it.

“Who or what are you?” I write.

The words fade and, on the page appears this:

“If we’re going to do this, you need to trust me. Check your phone.”

And what is there to do but check my phone?

And that’s when I see it. A new app has appeared, a jarring black and red icon that resembles an eye.

And that’s the moment that I decide I’ve had enough.

I shut the book and, to be on the safe side, throw it across the room. I then go to delete the red icon…

But when my finger touches it, I get a dizzy feeling and the world itself seems to shimmer. And when it focuses again, I find myself somewhere I’ve never seen before in my life.

Well, actually that’s not completely true. The place I ended up in looked exactly like my room; same dimensions, same furniture, etcetera. Except for the tiny detail that everything, the walls and every piece of furniture, were dark and textureless, and the only light came from glowing red and purple veins that ran across everything.

I jolt to my feet, my brain charging to try and make sense of everything that has happened, emotions crashing into my like tidal waves. Confusion, anger, and worry setting in.

[But fear too.]

[Fear most of all, in fact.]

[Fear like I’ve barely ever felt before.]

* * *

So. I’m clearly having some sort of unforeseen supernatural experience.

So where am I now? Am I in the same place, but my vision is distorted? Am I in a parallel world? Is this all an illusion? Am I just developing schizophrenia? (Probably not the last one, since schizophrenia usually doesn’t manifest itself until adulthood.)

I look to the other side of the room, where… the book is gone. Well, that’s just peachy.

I get my phone back out, but I’m not able to unlock it. That damn thing must not want me to leave just yet.

So, I have no choice but to begin exploring.

I take off from my room and down the hall. Passing the bathroom, I notice that the toilet looks just as fucking weird as everything else, so if I have to pee while here, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

I head to my parents’ bedroom. As I pass through the living room, I feel a strong presence coming from their room. I can’t describe why I feel this way, it’s like… my body is anticipating something. (Or someone.)

However, whenever I walk into their room, there is nobody home. Interestingly, there is a red aura lighting the room, as if there’s some giant lamp I can’t see hanging above the room.

I wonder what my parents would think if they could see me now. Would they be angry? Concerned? Either way, they probably would not give me a free pass to mess around with this supernatural stuff to my heart’s content. I decide that I probably should not tell them about this unless I have to.

[It’s no big deal.]

[Just add it to the list of secrets I’m keeping from them.]

My next stop is the front yard. If the _inside_ of the house looks this fucking bizarre, I can only imagine what it looks like outside.

The outside does not disappoint. Everything else looks just like the inside of my house. The sky is pitch black, with not so much as a star or the moon to light it. In the distance, dark fog obscures the horizon. No sign of any other life anywhere. Just me.

Okay, I think I’ve had my fun. Time to go to sleep.

...Nope, damn phone still won’t open. I guess it wants something from me.

So, with the whole town available to me, where do I go? I could go by Zoe’s house, perhaps. However, given that the other people in the town seem to not be here, there doesn’t seem to be much point in that.

Given that this stuff is all clearly supernatural, I’m kind of curious to see what would happen if I went to church. Having no other leads, that’s exactly what I do.

It’s a pretty decent walk to get there, about 20 minutes. But I guess I’m in good enough shape thanks to marching band that I’m able to go the whole way without getting tired. (In fact, I really don’t feel much of anything at all as far as my senses are concerned.)

The church is in the middle of residential area, surrounded by small houses. It’s not quite a mega-church, but it’s still pretty big, probably the largest one in town other than the Catholic church.

I walk up to the sign in front of the building. Normally, the words “First Baptist Church” are printed there, but now it’s blank, only covered by one particularly large vein that goes straight over the top. Very helpful.

I enter through one of the side doors. Inside the building, the veins become thicker and more plentiful, sprawling around in every direction across it. And there’s a very faint crimson-colored tint to the place. Like the black fog outside, it becomes more noticeable the further I look into the distance.

I think the most interesting place to check out would be the sanctuary, so I go through the wooden doors to the right.

The sanctuary’s pretty decently sized, a stage in the front to my left, rows upon rows of pews, including a balcony at the back. Right behind the stage is an enormous stained glass window. There was no design on it; however, the glass seemed to have an odd shimmer to it.

This catches my attention, so I make my way up on to the stage.

Looking more closely at the stained glass, I can’t quite describe what it is about it. It’s black like oil, but also strangely shiny. I may dearly regret doing this, but I’m going to try touching it out of curiosity.

Before I can even really touch anything, I am rewarded by being blinded by a bright light, as well hearing an ear-splittingly loud sound of breaking glass. It take me a minute or so to come to. And when I do, I immediately begin to regret every decision I’ve made in the past hour.

* * *

I turn around and survey the sanctuary, and am greeted six creatures, circling around the stage like a pack. They resembled coyotes, but they had blood red fur, and their legs and paws were made up of a strange, angular pattern.

Which is absolutely great. I’m still wearing my pajamas and I don’t have any weapons. These odds are not good. Still, there doesn’t seem to be any way out of this, so I move to the front of the stage past the choir pews so I have a clear shot at them.

I make a wide stance and draw my fists, as they’re basically all I have right now. All they do is growl at me threateningly for a few seconds. Then, something interesting happens.

* * *

[I see a man in front of me with flowing, shoulder length curly hair, two enormous wings, and a warrior’s garb.]

[“Who are you?” I ask.]

[“I am Saint Michael, he says.]

[I blink. “You’re not who I was expecting.”]

[“The Lord has called you to something greater that your secluded introspection. You have waited in the shadows for long enough- it is time to come out.”]

[“ _That’ll_ raise some hell,” I say. “But I guess it’s past time I got to do some of that.”]

[“We will form a pact then… but be warned, that there is no returning once you’ve started down the path.”]

[I find myself grinning. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Let’s save this nation, or die trying.]

* * *

My body convulses. I feel uncomfortably forced forward. It makes my arms tremble and knocks the breath out of my lungs. Without thinking, I reach up to my face, where a white mask had formed, which I promptly tore off. It hurts like hell, causing blood to pour out of the open wound, but I bear with a wince… Then, my whole body is engulfed in blue flames. When they burn out, I'm wearing a golden set of armor and brandishing a silver longsword. In the middle of my chestplate is a small indentation. And behind me, I could see the ghostly figure of St. Michael.

The animals standing below me ought to be afraid, but they do not back down, growling more menacingly than ever. And so, feeling much more confident, I make the first strike.

I lunge forward, sending my new sword crashing down into two of the coyotes and knocking them into one of the pews with a thud. From there, the coyotes dissipate, disappearing into a dark mist.

But then, the others pounce onto me before I had re-oriented myself from the last attack. I pivot quickly to the left and manage to knock one of them backwards with my sword, but was too late to stop the others, who topple me over onto the floor.

As so here I am, sitting here on my stomach, defenseless, feeling the other coyotes frantically scratching at my armor, trying to find bare flesh to tear into. I try to push them off, but they’re too heavy.

And yeah, I guess that’s pretty much it. I’m fucked.

* * *

At that moment, I hear a bang from right above me that echoes throughout the sanctuary in a cacophony. I feel a weight lifted from my back, and so I scramble to face forward and find that the four remaining coyotes were blasted several yards towards the other end of the sanctuary. They are badly hurt by whatever the hell just happened. The one I had knocked back now dissipates into the darkness with the first two, the the other three begin bounding around and back towards the stage area. They sail over the stairs, and then the choir podiums, until they go straight through the stained glass window in the back.

And with that, it is dead silent.

I get to my feet, and begin slowly turning to check my surroundings. And I'm quite startled when I find that on the stage behind me, a large blue armadillo stands on its hind legs. It's standing at only about 3 feet tall, has a red bandana cover its neck, wears a ten gallon hat, and has a revolver in the holster of its belt.

(If you think THAT’S funny, what happens next is even better.)

The armadillo tips its hat to me, and speaks in a deep, manly voice with a thick, southern accent; “Howdy, pardner.”

After all of the confusion, stress and fear of what had just happened, I come very close to just bursting out into laughter right there. However, I manage to keep it together.

“Hello,” I say to it. “I don’t suppose you just saved me from those things, did you?”

The thing just looks at me, which I take as a yes.

If it weren’t for the fact that literally nothing that has happened so far has made any amount of sense, I probably would have been freaked out by this turn of events. But given everything else, sure, why not, why not just have a friendly chat with a talking armadillo that speaks like a stereotypical cowboy? That makes sense, right?

“Are you the being who is inside my journal?” I ask it.

“Ma’am, I don’t believe I have any business being inside of any such object.”

“That’s good for you, then,” I say. I realize that I had subconsciously raised my sword at it, and drop it. “Because when I get ahold whatever that thing is that trapped my here against my will, I am going to have _words_.”

“Thank you for releasing my from my prison,” the armadillo says, tipping its hat politely.

“Um… you’re welcome?” I respond. “Not sure what I did, exactly.”

He gestures backwards towards the not-actually-stained-glass window.

Oh.

That’s right, I touched the thing.

And then, at that moment, right in front of us, a small, glowing pink object emerges from the glass, and slowly floats forward until it lands right into my hands. Observing it up close, it was clearly some type of gem.

“Do you know anything about this gem? Or… well, any of this?” I ask the armadillo.

However, it was just pointing at something. I look down, and find that it’s the small indentation in my armor.

Which looks like about the right size for the pink gem to fit into.

“You think I should… stick it in there?” I say. (Get your mind out of the gutter.)

“You will need more that just a sword for the upcoming battles,” he says.

“Oh will I now?” I don’t know what he means by “upcoming battles,” and I’m not so sure I like the sound of that.

But, for a lack of better ideas, I go ahead and put the gem in there. And then, pretty much as soon as I do, my cell phone starts ringing.


	2. Jonah (August 17- Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/17/2019: Fixed another past/present tense error.

I reach down and find that I’m able to pull my phone out of a groove in the armor. Unknown caller, no number.

Honestly, I probably wouldn’t normally answer this, but I suspect that the timing isn’t a coincidence.

So I pick it up.

“Nice going, Ashley!” says a female voice on the other end. She sounds like she means it. “I sense that you have gotten your hands on one of my jewels.”

“Who are you?” I ask.

“You must be a strong fighter,” the voice continues, rudely ignoring my question. “How many shadows did you have to face when you opened the portal?”

“Look, I’m sorry lady, but I think you have the wrong number. I have no idea what the fuck you’re going on about.”

The voice giggles at me, in a way which makes me very agitated. “Sorry for the trial by fire. I needed to know that you can be trusted. Come back to the RG, and I’ll explain everything.”

“Yeah, you better,” I say, ignoring the fact that I don’t know what the “RG” is because I probably wouldn’t get an answer if I asked.

I’m about to make to hang up the phone, when I hear the voice speak one more time. “By the way… you can call me Lucy.” Then, the line hangs up from the other end.

I look back at the armadillo, who was just patiently watching me throughout that whole exchange.

“Do you know that woman?” I ask him. “Really annoying, ignores everything I say, calls herself Lucy?”

The armadillo shakes its head. “I only know me.”

Which means that there are multiple parties involved in this whole debacle. Which means that things just got _complicated._

Well, for what it’s worth, this armadillo thing did save me from being mauled to death, and unlike the woman (who must have been the same being who talked to me through the book,) it’s not trying to boss me around.

And then there was that figure behind me during the battle… St. Michael. I don’t really remember how he entered into all of this, but somehow, I just know that’s who he is.

“How long were you watching the battle before you intervened?” I ask the armadillo. “Did you see where the sword and shit came from?”

“You must have unlocked your Persona,” he says. (Which explains absolutely nothing, but I’m starting to get used to this kind of bullshit.)

“Well… I’m glad I did,” I say.

“It’s a heavy burden to carry,” the armadillo says somberly. “With great power, comes great responsibility.

I don’t say anything to that, and open my phone back up to try and find out if I have full functionality of it back.

Most of the apps don’t seem to work, but I do see that ugly red app from earlier. I try to click on it.

Suddenly, I find myself back in the real world, back in my pajamas. It’s still dark because the lights are out, but it’s regular dark now. I’m still standing in the middle of the church, but now everything is back to normal, the slightly ugly green carpet and the wooden pews.

So… for one, that means that I can use this app to break into places and steal shit.

“My name is Ted, by the way” the armadillo’s deep voice says from a few feet away.

Wait, he followed me here? I look at the ground where he was standing, where there is now a regular-sized normal-ass armadillo.

You know what? I think I’m just about done for the night.

I click the app again, which sends me back into the stupid purple world, and my armor and sword reappear, as does the armadillo’s anthropomorphic form.

“Well, then… Ted,” I say, “it’s been a lot of fun, but I’m going to go home. I need to be up early for school tomorrow.”

I take off for the exit doors, but the armadillo calls after me. “You must take care when traveling outside in this world,” he says. “The shadows have been released.”

The shadows… like those coyotes.

The ones which almost killed me.

It hurts my pride, but in that moment, I make a pragmatic decision.

“Hey Ted, how about you walk with me then?” I ask him. “You don’t seem particularly tied down right now.”

* * *

 

As we both walk back towards my house, we don’t have any more creature problems. I swear I can see some shadows lurking around in the distance, but nothing approaches us yet.

I decide to take this opportunity to start piecing together this strange clusterfuck of events.

“So, Ted,” I say, trying to decide which question I should ask first. “Where exactly… are we right now?”

“This is the Metaverse,” he says.

I wait a few moments for an elaboration, but don’t get one, so I press further. “Okay… what is the Metaverse, exactly?”

“It’s a world parallel to our world,” he says. And then, guess what? He stops there. This guy is really making me do this the hard way. It makes me feel kind of unwelcome.

Still, he did say “our world,” which seems to imply that, like me, he came from the regular world.

“So, how did you get here?” I ask. Then I think better of that. “Actually, wait, better question. Who are you, exactly?”

“A forsaken soul,” he answers.

“The forsaken soul… of an armadillo?”

“No,” he answers. “I was a human. When I died, I was given this form and trapped in the Shadow Realm.”

I don’t like the implications of that.

“So,” I ask, “does this happen to everyone when they die?” And that makes me think of another point. “Were those coyotes we took out also people?”

“No to both,” he says, which is a big relief because I wasn’t happy with the idea of spending the afterlife as a talking animal, wandering around an empty shell of the place I used to live. “I am a human soul who was trapped here for a purpose. The shadows are not like me,” he explains.

“What’s so special about you?” I ask him.

“I was given a chance for redemption,” he says.

“So, if the shadows are not like you,” I ask, “what are they like? Are they demons?”

“Lost spirits,” he says, “bound to neither good or evil.”

“Well, those ones at the church seemed pretty evil,” I say.

At this point, we are about to arrive back in my neighborhood, but I still have more questions. “How do you know all of this?” I ask.

“Before I was sent here,” he explained, “I was told the nature of this place by St. Michael.”

Well, what a lucky bastard we have here. He got one of the top angels to directly explain something to him. Nobody ever directly explains jack shit to me. No, I have to figure out everything the _long_ way.

“You know, I’m pretty sure I just saw that exact same guy,” I say, “helping me back with the coyotes.”

“That was your Persona,” he says. “The fact that you saw his figure means that he has marked you as his emissary.”

[I’m a little alarmed by this comment, but I don’t want to think about it right now so I deflect it.]

“You never even explained what a Persona is,” I say.

“You formed a contract with your true self,” he says. “Now, it gives you the power to fight.”

Even though this isn’t really adding up in any meaningful way to me, we had arrived at my house and I decide that it’s now really time to call it a day. However, before I can do that, I have some housekeeping to do.

“When I went back into the real world,” I explain to Ted, “you came with me. You took on the form of a real-world armadillo. That means, you’re going to need to stay somewhere safe while I go about my regular daily life.”

“You’re very kind,” he says.

Maybe he’s thinking that I’m going to let him stay in my room, so I need to dispel that misconception as soon as possible.

I point down the short end of the street. “Down there is a Methodist church that is next to a forested area. That would probably be the best place for you to hang out. If you hang around in the neighborhood, you’re liable to get yourself shot.”

“Are you coming back to the Metaverse?” he asks me.

Which is actually a great question.

“I don’t know,” I say. “It seems like we can talk to each other just fine in the real world, so if you don’t wander too far from that church I’ll come tell you myself when I figure it out.”

“When you come back, the shadows will be prevalent,” he says. “They sleep now, for they have just been freed. But when we come back, they will be unavoidable. You would do well to learn to fight. You can hone your Persona and reach your full potential.”

I wish I could argue, but I was the one who almost got my own dumb ass mauled not long ago.

“So learn to fight, I will,” I say.

And so we part ways. I head back inside my house so I can go back into the real world in the same place I left it.

And while I walk, I think about the question that Ted asked me. Am I coming back to the Metaverse? I mean, why would I? This experience has certainly been… um, interesting, but so far I don’t really see any reason to try and repeat it.

And then, I remember Lucy. She’s the one who sent me here against my will. She must have had some reason for that.

All that stuff I saw in the journal… about how I can make a difference. That must have something to do with it. But I need elaboration.

And Ted said that I had been marked as an embassy… It seems like he may be full of shit on that point. Why would I be chosen, of all people? I’m not exactly a role model by most metrics. In addition, he also said that this Persona was my “true self,” which seems to directly contradict the whole embassy thing. On the other hand, it does seem to sort of line up with what the book said.

This is all making my head spin. I figure that the only thing that’s going to help at this point is if I start getting to the bottom of this.

* * *

 

I re-enter the real world once I’m securely back in my bedroom. The first thing I check is the place where I threw the journal earlier. It is indeed there, right where I left it. So, I guess not all objects from the real world follow me into the Meta… place. Similarly, not all objects from the other side follow me back, which is good, because I don’t think I have the closet space for a sword and a suit of armor.

What does alarm me is that the journal is a bit different than it was when I had it last. The pink gem that I had placed into my chestplate is in a groove in the center of the cover. This makes me worry that this Lucy is trying to send me on a fetch quest to collect all of them, which I don’t have time for.

Speaking of time, I check my alarm clock. It’s 9:42, which means that actually barely any time has passed since I left. (Either that, or it’s been a full 24 hours and I missed my first day of high school.) It seems that in the other place, time progresses more slowly or stops.

I pick up the journal of the floor, grab my pencil, and sit back down on my bed. Like with Ted before, my brain is firing so fast that I don’t even know how to begin.

“Was that you on the phone?” is what I ultimately go with.

As before, my writing fades, and something new shows up to replace it.

“Why yes, it certainly was. How was your first trip into the Metaverse?”

What an odd question. You’d think I had just been on a pleasant vacation.

“I guess you can say I’m a bit conflicted,” I write back. “I’m going to need some serious exposition before I can even begin figuring out what to make of that.”

I am pleased, but also a bit startled, to find that the reply to that takes up most of the page.

“Well, I certainly have no shortage of ‘exposition.’

The Metaverse is an alternate world that exists parallel to the one that we live in. For shorthand use, I like to refer to the regular world as the ‘RG,’ and the Metaverse as the ‘UG,’ so I will be using these terms from here on out.

The UG is mostly uninhabited, though in certain areas, shadows exist. Shadows are lost spirits. Their primary instinct is typically to attack, but some of them can speak and be negotiated with. Now that you have broken the barrier, your little town is now one of the places where shadows exist. This is actually a really good thing, as they are good fodder for improving your combat skills. However, there are some shadows who are stronger than others, so you should pick your battles carefully.

I expect that there were several shadows waiting to ambush you the moment that the barrier was open, so by surviving that and unlocking your Persona, you have shown considerable potential. You see, I had to keep you in the dark, because I needed to know if you were worth my time to mentor.

The purpose of the UG is that some specific actions taken there can affect the RG. You can use the UG to change the hearts of wicked people. And I think that you may be strong enough to someday change the trajectory of society as a whole. Our nation is sick. People like you and I are like white blood cells. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

It is getting quite late, so I imagine that you will be going to bed. I urge you to think about what I have said here. You are being given a chance that about one in ten million people get.

~Lucy”

Now, that is more like it.

Before the other page has a chance to wipe itself, I turn to the next one and write, “can you just leave up that whole explanation so I can reference it later?”

Sure enough, the writing on the front page remains visible, and where I wrote my note, new text appears.

“Certainly. Good night, Ashley.”

I shut the journal, and stick it into a drawer in my night stand, out of sight.

There is a lot to unpack there, so I decide that it is probably best to think about it later, when I have more time. Still, it takes some self-control to not take out the journal and re-read her writing over and over again. Not like I really need to, given that I burned every word I read into my brain already. So I lay there, my brain full of _Should I learn how to fight?_ And _Is Ted a shadow too?_ And _Have I really been chosen by an angel?_ And _White blood cells?_ And _What would Zoe think about all of this?_ And all sorts of little tidbits that I try to make a point of asking about next time. Needless to say, it takes me quite a while to fall asleep.


	3. Normal Life (August 18)

<Ashley>

Today is going to be yet another confusing, tumultuous day: my first day of high school.

Well, okay, that’s a bit of a joke. I’m sure it’s not going to be that different from junior high. Just a bigger school with more assholes to deal with. Harder schoolwork, though it’s nothing I can’t deal with. Marching band is a thing now, but to be fair that’s already been a thing for the past few weeks thanks to boot camp.

“Today’s a big day for you, how are you feeling?” my mom asks me, interrupting my train of thought.

I quit looking out the window of the car and look to her. Ah, my mother. If it weren’t for my different facial structure I’d almost be a clone of her. We have the same eyes, the same general lanky stature, and the same red hair. This is a good thing for me, because that also means I didn’t inherit my dad’s poor eyesight.

“You feeling nervous?” my mom asks, apparently misinterpreting my silence.

“No,” I say quickly.

“It’s okay if you are, you know,” she says. “You’re going from being the top of the pack, to the bottom. Now you’re going to have to compete with those upperclassmen.”

This isn’t true. Well, it is true that I have to compete with the upperclassmen, but they’re of no concern to me. Even though I’m just a freshman, I was let into the Symphonic Band, the higher of the two in the high school’s band program. Two other freshman also made it in, one of them being my best friend, Zoe. In her case, it probably helps that she’s the only bassoon player at the school. But still, it’s very impressive.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” my mom says, a hint of teasing in her voice. “You’re being awfully quiet.”

“I’m just thinking about stuff,” I say. I realize that I’m not doing a great job of proving that I’m not nervous and resolve to be less spacey.

We’re approaching the high school, a large red brick building.

“Can you drop me off at the back where the band hall is?” I ask her.

“Yeah, I was planning on it,” she says.

It’s a bit weird figuring out where to pull in with all of the upperclassmen buzzing around looking for parking spots, but eventually she stops right next to a sidewalk that leads directly to where the band hall is.

“Work hard today, Ashley,” my mom says as I open the door to get out.

“I will,” I say, because obviously I will.

I grab my trumpet and my backpack out of the back seat, and then I’m off.

So, I enter the band hall, which thanks to boot camp is about the only part of this school that’s already familiar to me. I look around for a flash of blonde hair, but I don’t see her. So I take the time to put up my instrument.

As I put my combination lock on, I see Mr. Castro, the band director, approaching from my right. He’s a bald, black man who always walks with a spring in his step.

“Good morning Ashley,” he says to me, with a slight bow.

“Mornin’,” I say. He’s probably the only person in the world right now who’s really happy that today is the first day of school. Still, I don’t mind him. From what I’ve seen so far, he’s competent.

Then, I saw someone else approaching, a trombone player named Anja. Big ol’ glasses, medium length brown hair, and an inexplicable smirk. Though she is in the year above me, you’d be forgiven for thinking she was actually younger, as I tower over her by several inches, and her stature is tiny.

“Isn’t that a trumpet? What are you doing with that?” she asks me.

“Jazz band,” I say. (She’s asking because I’m mainly a french horn player.)

“Well, aren’t you a big shot,” she says, and even though it’s true she says it in a sarcastic tone of voice. “Show me your schedule,” she says abruptly, pulling out her own, which had been folded up in her pocket.

“Aren’t you a sophomore?” I ask. “We’re probably going not going to have any classes together.”

“I know,” she says, “I just wanna see if we have lunch together.”

I set my backpack down on a nearby chair and fish out the folder my schedule is in. We didn’t know each other before marching band boot camp. While we were on our lunch breaks, most of the other kids would go home and eat there, also coming back for the afternoon session showered and with a change of clothes. However, there was always a pocket of ten or so kids who sat and ate sack lunches in hallway near the band hall. At some point, Anja randomly started sitting by me and making conversation. I’m pretty sure she only did it because she doesn’t really have any other friends. (Of course, I’d never say that out loud. I’m not that big of a bitch.)

“Awh hell yeah,” she says, “we do have the same lunch! I’m gonna go check Nova’s,” she says, right before suddenly running off.

I spend a few seconds wondering who or what Nova is before my attention is drawn to the one person who I actually did want to talk to this morning.

There’s Zoe, who had just walked into the band hall and was being greeted by some preppy girl. She’s got floofy blonde hair. Blue eyes. She’s a bit shorter than me, but not as much as Anja, and with more body. Today, she’s wearing a frilled light blue shirt, with sleeves that flutter and hang halfway down her upper arms, and a pair of close-fitting dark blue jeans.

I met her three years ago. I had just moved here from California, and she came up and introduced herself to me during church. Must’ve heard about a girl her age who was also in band. Glad she did. She makes a good study partner.

[And a great friend.]

I make my way for her just as that other girl fucks off, and she waves at me and gives me that sweet, genuine smile of hers.

“How’s it going?” I ask.

“Good!” she says. “Do you know where our first class is?”

We already compared schedules yesterday during church, and we both have first period english together.

“Guess we’ll have to find out,” I say. And so we take off to do just that.

* * *

 

And three classes and a band rehearsal later, we’re sitting down for lunch.

“What did you think of Ms. Truman?” Zoe asks, Ms. Truman being our new english teacher. “She seems nice.”

“Eh, I don’t really like her,” I say. “Something about her seems off to me. Like she’s a little _too_ happy to see us.”

Then, someone sits down at the table right across from us. Oh yeah, Anja is in this lunch period. I had forgotten about that.

“Hey there Ash,” she says to me. Then, she sees Zoe and extends a hand out to her in greeting. “My name’s Anja. I’m in marching band with her.”

I glance over to Zoe’s face for a hint that she’s annoyed with the sudden interruption, but Zoe is receiving her warmly and shakes her hand. “Nice to meet you!” she says. “I’m Zoe. You’re in the trombone section, right?”

“Sure am,” she says. “I’m… uh…” she suddenly looks at us confused. “I was trying to think of a trombone-related pun, but I couldn’t come up with anything in time.”

Zoe giggles at her. “I’m in the saxophone section,” she says. “Though my main, uh, my primary instrument is bassoon.”

“Ah, yet another multi-instrumena… instruma… _mul-ti-in-stru-men-ta-list_ ,” she says. She grins, and gives me a knowing look that annoys me for some reason.

Then, someone else sits down next to her. It’s a brown boy about Zoe’s height who looks like his hair has never been brushed before. I guess that’ll be Nova.

“Oh, h-hello there!” Zoe says. She’s trying _so_ hard to be friendly, but her confusion at the sudden visitors is starting to show a little bit, as she seems more nervous than before.

“Hey,” Nova says without looking at her.

“This is Nova,” Anja says, gesturing at him. “He’s one of my trombone pals. Nova, this Ashley and… Zoe, right?”

Zoe waved cheerily at him. He’s still not looking at us, and is instead reaching down to his backpack for something. I notice that he doesn’t actually have a lunch tray.

“So, Nova, what’s your story?” I ask him. At this point, I’m not sure what Anja’s playing at by just inviting him to our lunch table.

“What’s my _story?_ ” he asks. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry Ash,” Anja says, “he’s with me.” This comment doesn’t actually do anything to soothe my worries.

He pulls something out of his backpack which looks a lot like that Nintendo DS I used to have, except a bit blockier. Must be a new model or something.

He opens up the DS, and I can immediately hear game music coming from the speakers. I decide to use this opportunity to test him.

“Can you turn down that down a little?” I ask him.

He looks startled. “Oh, right. Sorry.” He turns the volume slider all the way down, and the game is silent.

Alright, so he’s just clueless then. I can put up with that. I’m going to hazard a guess that he also maybe isn’t the most popular kid at our school, so as long as he doesn’t deliberately act like an ass I figure I can live with him sitting here.

“So, um, what do you guys think of your first day?” Zoe asks, nervously trying to steer the conversation back on track. “Any teachers you like?”

“Yeah,” Anja says, “my chemistry teacher literally dresses like and acts like a cowboy.”

A cowboy… for some reason, this stirs something in my memory.

Oh yeah, I remember what it is. All that weird shit from last night, with the armadillo. God. That actually happened, didn’t it. I guess I’m going to have to deal with that sooner or later.

Just to make sure that it wasn’t a fever dream, I take my phone out of my pocket, all the while Zoe is saying something about her French teacher that I don’t quite catch. I unlock it, and sure enough, there’s that fucking app. It really is quite an eyesore. Color scheme totally clashes with-

“Hey, what’s that?” Anja says suddenly, looking down at my phone.

I instinctively yank it down out of sight, which may not have been the best move because she’s now glaring at me suspiciously.

“It’s a smart phone, Anja,” I say. “They’re quite popular these days.” She gives me a puzzled look for a while longer, but then the table goes back whatever mundane conversation was happening before.

* * *

 

The last class of the day is none other than jazz band. I’m in the band on second trumpet. The first trumpet player is some senior who’s a two-time all-stater, which means that next year I’ll be able to get his spot.

Zoe’s also in the band, on saxophone, like she is in marching band. (If you didn’t know, bassoons don’t march. Carrying and playing those monstrosities while sitting down is already difficult enough.) She got interested in playing saxophone after my mom offered to give her lessons. You see, both of my parents are professional musicians.

Today, we just sight-read some fairly simple stuff, but I have hopes that we’ll be getting to some actually challenging repertoire. I may put in a request for the Bob Curnow arrangement of First Circle.

Anyways, after jazz band is over, we have about 30 minutes to scramble and get ready for marching practice out in the parking lot. So right after class is dismissed, I swoop down by Zoe to ask her something that I’ve been meaning to since lunch.

“Hey, Zoe,” I ask her as she’s putting her sax away, “do you mind those two from lunch sitting with us? If you do, I have no problem getting them to leave us alone.” You see, throughout junior high, we sat by ourselves during lunch as a c-... as a pair.

“Oh! No, I don’t mind at all!” she says cheerily. “I think they’re funny!”

Funny. I guess that’s the Zoe way of putting it.

I ask her again, just to see if she actually means it, and then let her go get changed. I don’t actually have to do much to get ready, since I just wore gym shorts underneath some sweatpants today.

I can’t help but to wonder if I should tell Zoe about all of this Metaverse stuff. I mean, on one hand, I’m not sure why I would. But, if you didn’t pick up on this, she’s probably the only person I really trust right now, so if I were to include anyone, it’d be her.

But then, there’s something that Lucy said that worries me. “You can use the UG to change the hearts of wicked people.” If that’s the work I’ve been assigned, maybe it’s best to leave Zoe out of it. She has such a pure heart, and I wouldn’t feel good about getting her involved in that kind of nasty business.

And then again, how would she even react to this news? I don’t think it’s controversial to say that this whole thing is pretty fuckin’ wild. Would she even believe me at all? Would she just be confused? (I mean, I’m still a bit confused on some points myself.) I don’t know. Who knows what goes on in her head?


	4. The Spark (August 19)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> December 17, 2019: Fixed a grammatical error.

<Zoe>

“Hey. Hey. Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup-”

It feels as if someone is shaking the bed. I try to remember what I had just been dreaming about. It had been a happy one. I believe that it had something to do with Ashley, but the details are slipping away now…

“Hey, you gotta get up, Zoe. Mom’s about to finish breakfast!”

I give up and open my eyes. There, at my bedside, is my younger brother, Collin, no doubt sent here by my parents.

“I’m awake,” I tell him to calm him down.

He grins. “About time! I’ve been here for like a minute.” He then proceeds to jump to his feet, and take off out of my room in almost a run.

Collin is only one year below me in school, but somehow through the years he has yet to lose his youthful spirit. You can tell we are siblings by our matching blonde hair and blue eyes, which are also shared by my mother and my two older brothers. His is getting to be almost as long and curly as mine, which is something which I expect our parents will put an end to soon.

So, I arise from my bed, get dressed as best as I can, and head downstairs.

My mother is indeed already setting the table with plates of scrambled eggs. My father is sitting on the couch, holding a newspaper in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other, as is his typical morning routine. My second oldest brother, Derrick, is setting his backpack on a chair by the front door. (My oldest brother, of course, is not here; he is beginning his first year of college at Texas A&M.) Collin is mysteriously absent. (Where could he have wandered off to since waking me up? Perhaps he is washing his hands.)

My mother had finished setting the table, and is hustling over to see me. For such a thin woman, she could, when desired, create quite a foreboding presence.

“Why, surely, you do not intend to wear that to school today?” she asks me sternly.

I feel a stab of shame. I had dressed in my favorite pair of jeans, and a red t-shirt from the junior high I attended last year, _Bynum Intermediate School._

“You’re a high school student now,” she says. “You can’t be walking between your classes in a regular old t-shirt. You’ll be outdressed.”

This is not necessarily the case. Based on what I observed yesterday, most students seem to dress at about the same level as I am currently. Ashley was even wearing sweatpants.

“I will change, then,” I tell her, turning back to my room to do so. Satisfied, she hovers away to begin rounding up the boys for breakfast.

It is not my place to question my mother on these things. Me being the only daughter of four children, my mother and I always had a special one-on-one relationship. Growing up, she was my teacher in all feminine matters.

As I am walking back to my room, Collin suddenly bursts out of his, as the doors to our rooms are right next to one another. So, he was not washing after all.

“Why did you go back into your room?” I ask him, curious. “What were you doing?”

“Nothing,” he says, seeming annoyed with me for asking. Without further ado, he takes off for the breakfast table.

Ah, his evasive manner is not unusual these days. I’m afraid he is going through quite the rebellious phase.

* * *

 

Just a little bit later that morning, I arrive at my school. Because the high school is closer, Derrick and I are dropped off first. I go into the band hall, even though I do not have an instrument to drop off today.

I look around to see if Ashley has arrived at school yet. I do not see her at first, however I hear a trumpet player practicing in one of the practice rooms, and check to see if it’s her.

As it turns out, it is. She doesn’t see me because she is faced away from the window. She’s playing a quick-sounding jazz swing piece that is constantly shifting tonalities. It is only the second day of school, and she’s already at it? What could she be playing?

[I can’t help but to stand and watch her for a minute. She’s honestly quite an imposing personality. She stands rather tall for a girl, must be about 5’10”, with long, red hair that gleams behind her back, and nothing ever seems to faze her. It’s hard to put into words, but she’s somehow different than any of my other friends; there’s always something with her that is just out of reach for me. I know she’s not the most warm and friendly person ever, but whenever I’m around her, I feel some sort of unique feeling of security, which I find myself craving. It’s as if nothing bad can happen to me.]

Anyways, I worry that others would find this strange, with me standing outside the room staring in at her, so I knock on the door. I know from past experience that she doesn’t mind me coming in while she’s practicing. She opens the door for me and says, “Morning, Zoe” in her usual flat, low voice.

“Good morning!” I tell her. “What are you working on in here?”

“All-region jazz band music,” she says casually. “Auditions are in three weeks.”

I immediately feel a wave of terror. In three weeks? Why, I had no idea such a thing was happening! I should have been preparing for this yesterday, and yet I did not even take my saxophone home.

“Oh no!” I say. “W-where can I get the music?”

“Go talk to Mr. Castro about it,” she says. “I just got the music this morning. He’s going to hand it out in jazz band later this week.”

Oh! Well, I suppose there was no way I could have known about it. Still, I can not shake the feeling that I could have done more. I didn’t even know there were all-region tryouts for jazz band.

So, I set off for Mr. Castro’s office to ask him for the music. It is important that I get it today, so that I can work on it in my lesson with Ms. Davis this afternoon.

* * *

 

During lunch that day, apparently the school lunch lines were serving pizza. I am grateful that my mother is gracious enough to prepare us lunches to take to school, because the pizza on Ashley’s tray honestly looks disgusting. Still, she does not seem to have any issue eating it.

And then, Anja and Nova take a seat across from us, as they did yesterday.

“Hello everyone, how is ECHS treating you all so far?” Anja asks us.

If this means that they are our new lunch partners, I am a bit conflicted on this. Anja has been easy to get along with, so I am not worried about that. However, I have heard certain rumors about Anja from some of my other friends, about something that happened between her and a girl named Ruth back in middle school. The nature of these rumors makes me concerned what they will think if they ever see me sitting with her.

Anyways, I answer her prompt, as nobody else seems in a hurry to. “It is going well so far,” I say. [That is not exactly true, given my scare this morning, but I don’t know what else to say.]

“It’s hard to gauge at this point, given that we still haven’t really started any actual schoolwork,” Ashley points out.

Nova does not respond; he once again does not seem to be eating, and is instead playing on a video game system. Is his family not able to afford the school lunches, perhaps? I do not know much about him. He moved to our school part way through last year. He does not seem to be much for conversation; I suspect that he is shy.

“Well, I said ‘so far,’” Anja says to Ashley. “I know that, as the semester goes on, it’s going to get crappy with all the work and stuff.”

For some reason, Ashley glances at me, as if she is expecting me to say something. Then, she says, “thanks for the words of encouragement.”

I force a giggle to try and cover the awkward moment. Then, I ask Anja, “do you expect your classes this semester to be difficult?”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s going to be all the usual shit,” Anja says dismissively.

(This is the first time I have heard her using foul language. I hope that this is not overly common with her.)

“I just can’t wait until my senior year when I take US Government,” Anja continues. “You know, my mother was Ellen Beatty.”

The name sounds familiar to me, but I’m not immediately able to recall why. I glance at Ashley for help, but her frown suggests that she does not know either.

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” Ashley asks.

“You know,” Anja says, “the woman who, in 2006, nearly became the youngest governor of Texas since the 19th century.”

I gasp. I had heard a story about the election from that year.

“You m-mean,” I say, embarrassed that I am stuttering again, “that lady who nearly unseated Gov. Schneider before-”

I could not say it. But I believe I know who she is talking about. After Gov. Schneider had finished his first term, he was challenged by an energetic Democratic candidate, before her campaign was cut short by her unexpected death due to health complications.

“Was she really your mother?” Ashley asks her.

Anja nods solemnly. “Nearly turned Texas blue again, she did. And now, that probably isn’t going to happen for a very long time…” Anja sighed wistfully.

(Given how Anja seems to revere her mother, I make a note not to repeat what my own parents have said about her, as their comments were quite harsh.)

“You’re an odd breed around these parts, Anja,” Ashley comments.

“Yeah,” Anja says, “wish I could have grown up in California.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Ashley says. “I mean, there’s a reason why my parents decided to move here instead.”

“Oh yeah?” Anja asks. I notice that her pleasant, relaxed demeanor seems to be going away. Knowing how upfront Ashley can be, I expect that this discussion could quickly get heated. “And what was that reason?” Anja asks.

“The cost of living there is insane,” Ashley says, still as nonchalant as ever, seemingly not noticing the danger signs coming from Anja. “It makes a big difference, not having to pay a state income tax.”

And as I expected, this does erupt into an argument between them. Unfortunately, I lose track of the conversation at this point. They both get into some heated discussion about welfare or something that I’m not quite able to follow along with.

* * *

 

After lunch, my next class is Pre-AP Biology. Unfortunately, Ashley is not in this class with me. She does have the same teacher the period after, though. Also, I do have other friends in this class: Terra, Diana, and Yonca.

Terra and Diana are old friends of mine from church. Terra is the tallest of the three, and has a cool and in-control temperament. Diana is much more peppy and outgoing. Yonca small in stature, like Anja is, but she also has olive skin and long black hair. She’s rather different than most of the people around here, but she’s very sweet and warm.

As I take my seat at their table, they are already in the midst of chattering about something. However, when I sit down, they all turn towards me at once.

“So, Zoe,” Terra begins, “I know you hang out with Ashley a lot, but if I were you, I’d look out for her.”

This alarms me, and also fills me with fear once again. I try to stutter a reply, but Diana seems to figure out what I’m trying to ask and says it.

“I just heard from Tessa that she spent all of summer band hanging out with that dyke,” she says.

It takes me a few seconds to try and figure out what she just said, but Terra continues before I can.

“I know that you’re closer to her than any of us,” she explains. As she talks, she has a sort of odd smile on her face. It’s as if she’s trying to be reassuring, but the smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes, and it instead only makes me feel more nervous. “I’m not trying to ruin your friendship,” she continues. “I just thought it would be kind to let you know.”

I just sit there for a few seconds, starting back at her, trying to figure out what on earth they are talking about, while also trying not to show how panicked I feel. Why are they suddenly so concerned about her? What even is a “dike?”

Before I have time to formulate a reply, the class begins, and the teacher, Coach Everheart, embarks on a lecture about the parts of the cell. Unfortunately, due to the confusing exchange I just had, I have a very difficult time listening to and understanding what he is saying.

So, they’re warning me about Ashley… because she was spending time with a dike during summer band? That doesn’t make any sense. I thought that a dike was a wall that’s constructed to prevent flooding. How can Ashley hang out with that? That is an inanimate object.

In addition, I know that Ashley is not quite a social butterfly, and I do not recall seeing her talking to anyone else different during band camp.

But then, I come to a realization which makes my gut wrench. Ashley was at the school during lunch breaks every day. And then, when school starts, Anja suddenly walks up to our table and announces that she is in marching band with Ashley. Is Anja the dike?

Or perhaps it’s Nova? No, that can’t be right. When he arrived at the table, even Ashley seemed a bit confused as to who he was; she was asking him vague questions. It didn’t seem as if she already knew him from camp.

And then, of course, I remember the rumor about Anja. Back when she was in sixth grade, she was caught kissing that other girl. Does that have something to do with all of this? It must- whatever a “dike” is, the way Diana said it made it sound like a really bad thing.

And then, at this thought, my thoughts begin to spiral out of control. Different thoughts and fears are popping into my head so quickly that I can’t keep track… I worry that I will not be able to stay visibly calm, so I excuse myself from class to go to the restroom.

* * *

 

Even after my last two class periods and marching band, I still feel rather out of it. Because I had a lesson with Ashley’s mom, I got a ride home with her.

The ride is quite awkward. At one point, I am so spaced out that I had not realized that Ashley’s mom was speaking to me.

“Hey, Zoe,” Ashley says, lightly tapping me on the arm. “Mom asked you something.”

“Oh! Um… I’m sorry… What was that?” I bumble out in reply, embarrassed that I had been so rude.

“Were you able to get the all-region tryout music?” her mom says. Thankfully, she does not seem annoyed with me for not hearing her.

“Oh yes!” I say, speaking more enthusiastically than normal to try and make up for my mistake. “I got it this morning!”

“Alright, excellent,” her mom says. “So, we’ll have to talk some more about improvisation. The region tryout etude for improv is easy as cake, just a b-flat blues. The area tryout music is…”

“Hey Zoe,” Ashley says to me in a low voice.

I look at her. Her eyes are wide with concern.

“You okay?” she asks me.

“Um… y-yeah,” I say.

“Do you need to talk about something?” she asks me. I can also hear the concern in her voice. It’s very unusual for her to act this worried about anything.

“Um… l-later.” I say. How on earth am I going to be able to explain everything that has happened?

* * *

 

I try to focus as hard as I can on the lesson, and on acting normally during the lesson, so that I don’t make anyone even more concerned about me. After we are done, however, I run into Ashley one more time for the day.

She is standing in the entry hall for her house. I can already see my father’s car out front to pick me up.

“Oh, um, that’s my dad, he’s already…” I start to say, in case Ashley is wanting to talk now.

However, Ashley surprises me yet again by pulling me into a close hug. This is only the second time we’ve ever hugged, the last time being the last day of school last year, and I initiated that one.

“I just want want to let you know that it’s going to be alright,” she says to me calmly. “I have faith that you can do it.”

I’m really not sure what she’s talking about, but I don’t worry about it. I just hug her back as closely as I can. I once again get that feeling I get from her, that feeling of security. After being anxious about what my friends said for the past few hours, it’s a blessing. I try to savor each second that passes, wishing that we could stand there for longer.

However, the moment is interrupted when her mother comes out into the hall behind us. Ashley catches her eye, and quickly lets go of me. And so I leave out the front door, all of my confused thoughts about the day quickly catching up with me as I walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit July 23, 2019: Changed the word "serious" to "worried" near the end.


	5. Two Worlds (August 20)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> December 17, 2019: Fixed a grammatical error near the end.

<Ashley>

Unusually, I don’t see Zoe in the band hall the next morning. I can’t help but to wonder if she’s not home ill. She was acting pretty weird yesterday. I wasn’t sure why at first, but after thinking about it, I think I figured it out.

Back tomorrow morning, she jumped about a foot in the air when I told her about all-region jazz band tryouts coming up soon. Then, she seemed really nervous when we were on the way to my house for her lesson. I bet the knowledge of an audition coming up so soon scared the shit out of her. You see, she always gets really nervous when auditions or tests are coming up. 

In hindsight, I guess I could’ve broke the news to her in a more tactful way. I just didn’t realize that this would trigger her testing anxiety this badly. 

Really, what should have happened was we should’ve gotten this music mailed to us earlier or something. I checked online, and the tryout music was available pretty early on. It really was disadvantageous to us freshmen for our school to hand it out so late. I resolve to have a word with Mr. Castro about this later.

Anyways, when I arrive at English class that day, I find that Zoe is here after all.

“Hey Zoe,” I say to her as I’m sitting down next to her. “How’s it going?”

“Oh, um, it’s going good,” she mumbles unconvincingly. She doesn’t look as nervous as yesterday, but she does still have a bit of a strange look in her eye. I hope she didn’t lose sleep because of this region jazz thing.

As I’m getting my things out of my backpack, I notice something else odd. Some boy I’ve never seen before is looking at me from a few rows in front of us. He’s almost my height, a bit muscular, and has short, brown hair that’s ruffled up and rectangular glasses.

“May I help you, sir?” I say to him, looking him in the eyes. 

He blinks, and then suddenly shuffles around to face the front again. I guess he didn’t expect me to actually address him. I hope that guy doesn’t start causing me trouble, or else I may need to find a way to sneak that sword out of the Metaverse and into the school. You know, for self-defense. (I’m joking. Calm down.)

* * *

 

And once again, it is time for lunch. Anja got a bit preachy on me yesterday, so I’m hoping that doesn’t become a regular occurrence. 

Whenever she gets to the table, she drops her tray to the table dramatically, making me think that she’s going to pick up right where she left off about how I was oh so wrong about my positive feedback loop theory.

“So…” she begins, “who here has seen Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Oh. Well, this catches me off guard. Especially given that I haven’t actually seen Guardians of the Galaxy.

“I have,” Nova says, which startles me because he’s so quiet that I keep on forgetting that he’s there.

“Awesome, right?” Anja asks.

“Yeah!” Nova exclaims. “It was hilarious.”

Suddenly, Anja squints her eyes seriously and points at Zoe and I. “You two. Need to go see it.”

“Um, we don’t  _ need _ to do anything,” I point out.

“Yes you do!” she raves, animatedly pounding her fists on the table and accidentally knocking over her milk carton. (Thankfully, it hadn’t been opened yet.) For some reason, she’s getting even more worked up about this movie than she did about wealth redistribution yesterday.

“Fine. Give me five reasons why I should watch it,” I say. I’m in a pretty good mood today, so I decide to just play along with whatever she’s on.

“Number one: Chris Pratt,” she says.

There is a pause, and then I have to say it. “Okay… what about him?” I ask. I assume that he’s some actor that’s in the movie?

“He’s a cutie!” Anja jabbers, putting her hands to her face dramatically.

Heh. I guess she hasn’t caught on that I’m a lesbian yet.

Oh yeah, by the way, if you haven’t caught on to this yet, I’m a lesbian. That crush I was talking about way back when? It’s Zoe. I’ve had a crush on her pretty much since I first saw her. I’m not going to say anything to her about it, of course. I was trying to be cool in front of Anja yesterday, but I’m aware that Texas also has its… drawbacks.

And if my being a lesbian is a problem for you, you should probably quit reading now, because that’s not going to change throughout the rest of the story. Even now, I can tell you that much.

Anyways, speaking of Zoe, she’s looking at Anja as if her skin had suddenly turned green.

“You’re going to have to give me another reason,” I say. 

“Number two,” she says, unnecessarily miming her statement by holding up two fingers, “Zoe Saldana.” 

“What, have you memorized the name of every actor in the movie?” I ask her.

“She was in Avatar, right?” Nova asks.

“You mean that Nickelodeon show?” I ask him back, admittedly interested. 

“No, he means the James Cameron movie,” Anja clarifies. Except that wasn’t much of a clarification.

“Who’s James Cameron?” I ask.

“He’s the- I- the one with the blue people in it!” Anja scolds.

Ooh. That Avatar. Okay.

“Number three: there’s a talking racoon in it,” Anja continues. “And if Sly Cooper has taught us anything, it’s that any story concept can be improved with a talking raccoon.”

“Sly... Cooper?” I ask, just because I know that whatever it is will drive her nuts. 

Indeed, Anja looks as if she’s about to murder me where I stand. Zoe devolves into a fit of giggles at the sight of her.

“Didn’t you ever have a PS2?” Nova asks me.

“We used to have a GameCube when I was little,” I say. “But my parents never had the money to spend on video games willy nilly.” 

Because it’s true. Being a freelance musician is not the easiest life. Our prospects didn’t start to improve until very recently, when my dad started finding more success as a composer.

“What do you parents do?” Anja asks me curiously.

“Musicians, both of them,” I say. 

“Ah, that does explain a lot,” she says, which I take as a compliment. “My dad’s a psychiatrist.”

Ah, so her dad is a shrink, and her mom was Texas democrat. That also explains a lot. (I don’t say this out loud, because I figure I’ve pushed her buttons enough for now.)

“Wait, you mean like a guy who does therapy and stuff?” Zoe asks, cutting into the conversation.

“Yeah, he also helps with rehab clinics sometimes,” Anja explains. “Was always a great motivation for me to not start doing drugs.”

“So, I bet you know a lot about the… like, the human mind and stuff?” Zoe asks.

She’s gone a bit funny again, looking at Anja with surprising intensity. It’s odd, I never imagined her as one to be so interested in the behavioral sciences. I guess you learn something new every day.

* * *

 

That afternoon, it’s my dad that picks me up from band, given that my mom is currently on her way to Dallas for a rehearsal. This is going to be quite an intense week for her- she’s performing in a musical there four days in a row, starting tomorrow.

Anyways, my dad is not quite as talkative, which sometimes is a good thing. He always just plays music while he drives, and makes only occasional comments. The good news is, he’s got pretty good tastes in music. I don’t quite recognize what’s playing today, but it’s some hard rock band that has a lead singer with a shrill voice.

“Who is this?” I ask, when the song hits a moment of silence in between sections. 

“This is Rush, a Canadian group,” he explains to me. “I don’t listen to this one as much. It always seems to me like the band was trying too hard to be contrarian, what with the pentagram on the cover, and the songs about drug use. This piece, in particular, is actually about the philosophy of Ayn Rand.”

I don’t have a clue who that is, but the next section is getting started, so I don’t press him. My dad places a high value on whatever the ideological or aesthetic basis of a piece of music. And while that is certainly important, in my opinion, ultimately the quality of the music itself wins. I mean, Dad is still listening to this despite it being based on something he doesn’t like, right? It’s because if you just listen to the song, it’s all really quite exciting.

* * *

 

It’s also long enough to last the rest of the way back home. We’re home early enough to where I have about 15 minutes to spare before my trumpet lesson begins. I take Skype lessons with Sarah Jane Azalea, who’s an old friend of my dad’s from college. She has to be one of the best trumpet players in the world. Before long, I imagine she’s going to be giving Wayne Bergeron a run for his money.

However, before then, I have some business to settle. I’ve had some questions stewing in the back of my mind for Ms. Lucy and Mr. Ted. Lucy is first, since she seems to be a bit easier to talk to. So, once I’m back in my room, I fish out that old journal from where I put it in my drawer. 

I’m pleased to see that her info dump from last time is still gleaming on the first page. On the next, I write, “You there, Lucy?”

She writes back, “I’ll be here anytime you need me.”

“I have some follow up questions,” I ask her.

“Put them down, and I’ll answer them to the best of my knowledge,” she says. 

Now that’s what I wanted to hear. I like it when people are actually helpful. So, I begin.

“1. What was with that stained glass window in the church, exactly? Why did it touching it release shadows? Also, what is with that pink gem?”

I pause for a moment. I had thought a lot about whether or not to tell Lucy about Ted. I ultimately decided to not do so. As it is, she seems to be under the impression that I defeated a whole hoard of shadows by myself, which makes me seem really impressive, which, in turn, makes it so I have a better chance of getting information out of her.

“2. What exactly is a Persona?” Ted already kind of explained this, but I’m curious about how she’s going to describe it. Also, remember, as far as she’s concerned, Ted doesn’t exist. 

Finally, probably the most important question. 

“3. How exactly can I change the hearts of other people using the Metaverse, and what purpose do you have in telling me this?”

Because she has to have some sort of agenda here. She even kind of hinted at it last time, with that stuff about society being “sick.” Before I even entertain the idea of helping her, though, I need to know what she means, because that kind of comment could be taken a lot of different ways.

Finally, I finish my queries, and after a bit, they fade from the page. Once again, a hefty amount of writing replaces it.

“Ah, those are some good questions. Like with the last one, I’ll leave this page frozen up here so that you can reference it later if you wish. 

First of all, the stained glass window is a sort of seal. Places like it exist in the UG all over, though less than .1% of them have actually ever been tampered with by human being. The UG is actually sort of a middle ground between the RG and a mysterious, totally different realm, which I call the SR. Thanks to my app, you were able to break the seal between the RG and the UG already, but the UG really can’t be used for much without also linking it to the SR.”

Keeping track of all of these acronyms is making my head spin, but there’s still a lot left to read.

“As for the pink gem, that was a surprise, though a happy one. It is a powerful artifact that gives you more sway over the higher realms. I know that there is at least one other like it, and I have reason to suspect that there are as many as four. You stumbling upon that was, as far as I can tell, a total fluke. Nevertheless, the book we are talking through is designed to accept and utilize those stones. Let’s call the one you found the Rose Stone, and we’ll call the other one I’m aware of the Amethyst Stone. 

2\. Your Persona is almost like a sort of guardian angel. When you go into the Metaverse, certain events, such as being in imminent danger, can trigger its awakening. When this happens, you may get a chance to briefly speak with your Persona, but will probably not get a chance to do so again. Your Persona will stand with you while you fight, allowing you to perform magic attacks, and many also have passive abilities that will increase your physical prowess or protect you from enemies. Personas can be strengthened through battling, so think of it as being like in a video game, where you have to get experience points to learn new skills. In addition to the Persona itself, you will be granted a spangly new outfit and some sort of physical weapon. Some enemies go down more quickly the old fashioned way.”

Wow, I’m really glad I asked her that question, because that information is way more practical that the way Ted tried to explain it.

“3. The process of actually changing people’s hearts is fairly involved, so I’m going to wait until we’re ready to actually begin to explain that. But yes, I suppose you do deserve to know the end goal here.

I have reason to believe that there is a demonic entity that has taken root in your region of the country. The goal of this entity is unclear, as are its motives; this kind of stuff is a rather fuzzy science. The only thing I know for sure is that it is currently residing in the SR. I’m not sure what kind of faith background you come from, but I must stress that when I call this thing ‘demonic,’ I mean it with the utmost seriousness. Whatever it is doing, we can be absolutely sure that it is bad for everyone. 

The way to find this being is to take down a large number of people whom it has had direct influence over. These could be criminals, or corrupt people who are in powerful positions. And listen carefully: I don’t give a shit about some Joe Blow smoking weed in his apartment, or a couple of crazy teens who got naughty before marriage. The people we need to be on the lookout for are the worst of the worst. They are the people who possess no empathy for others and act out of malicious self-interest.”

This last part startles me a bit, for a couple of reasons. For one, Lucy totally dropped the more formal tone she had taken on up until now and got really… direct with me. It gives me the feeling that this is super important to her. 

And yeah, it sounds like she’s onto something noteworthy here, and it’s not just “we must eradicate The Gays” type nonsense, like I was afraid it might be. I just wish she could give me a little more specific information about what’s going on.

“Why do you need me for all of this?” I write on the next page after that. 

“This is a huge task that can not be done alone,” she explains. “That is why I created this book. I was hoping to find a worthy candidate to lead the charge.

There is one thing about the process of changing hearts that I will need to disclose now. The person who deals the final blow will need to be someone who has been directly affected by the villain’s actions. So, unless you have an extremely unfortunate life, you are going to have to bring others into the UG. You can do this by using your app whenever you’re standing near them.”

Ugh. So part of this is going to convincing a bunch of random people to come along with me. That sounds like a chore.

I suddenly notice that it is 5:55, so I hurriedly put the book away and start getting warmed up for my lesson.

Still, as I assemble my trumpet, one thing bothers me. Lucy had said that when my Persona was awakened, I may have gotten a chance to speak with it. But the weird thing is, I don’t remember anything like that happening. It’s a shame. I would’ve loved to chat it up with one of the top angels.


	6. Confessions (August 21)

<Anja>

Ah, marching band. Just about a hundred or so students out in the parking lot after school, in the middle of Texas, during the hottest month of the year. Completely mental, right? Yet that is where I, Anja Buelen, find myself during the beginning of my sophomore year. So what drives so many people to do this masochistic activity?

Well, some people do it because they just really love the art. People like my friend Ashley, the tall mellophone player. Still a freshman, I met Ashley during boot camp. I saw her sitting all by herself and decided to take pity on her.

Ashley’s the daughter of two musicians, and their love of all things musical has clearly been passed down to her. Personality wise, Ashley’s a loner: she’s brooding, cold, stoic. Often times comes off as egotistical. Clearly, she’s the type who was meant to be giving the orders in our world, just like me. But a general can’t lead an army by herself; she needs the soldiers to carry out the commands.

Some only do marching band because it offers credits in both fine arts and physical education. In the trombone line in front of me is Nova. He’s also a freshman, and we’re in the trombone section together. That’s right, I’m a girl trombone player. That means my boner is bigger than yours. (Oh, there it is! That’s what I should’ve said earlier to Zoe! That’s funny, I need to remember that.) Nova loves nothing in the world more than video games. As a result, he’s pretty good at them, judging by how thoroughly he kicked my ass at Smash Bros. last weekend. But this Saturday, I’m not letting that happen again. I’ve been training all week for our next showdown.

“Anja! You’re too far back!” a voice says suddenly, snapping me out of my trance.

Ah, that was my section leader. Indeed, it looks as if I overstepped my dot by quite a lot. I guess I got so into narrating my own life that I spaced out. Time for a bathroom break, I suppose.

* * *

 

However, inside the bathroom, I run into another one of my new freshman friends: Zoe, the saxophone player who also plays bassoon.

Zoe I met because she’s a friend of Ashley’s, and personally, I’m pretty sure they secretly love each other. I mean, they’re very different people, but that’s just exactly what makes me ship them so hard. I mean, really, when you think about it, they need each other. Zoe is the SpongeBob to Ashley’s Squidward. The right brain to her left brain. The sweet that comes after the sour when you eat a sour patch kid. (Okay, maybe that last metaphor was a bit weak.)

Upon laying eyes on me, Zoe appears to be nervous. I bet I know why. We only really know each other because we’re both friends with Ashley. So, we have not had enough time yet to bond and a one-on-one basis. So, perhaps she doesn't know how to start a conversation with me. I decide to be generous and take the lead.

“Hello there, Zoe!” I say to her. I would’ve normally shaken her hand, but she had just washed hers, so I think that perhaps she doesn’t want my sweaty hands in hers right now.

“H- hi, Anja,” she stammers, looking around the bathroom apprehensively.

“Is something the matter?” I ask her, because it certainly seems as if something is the matter.

For a few seconds, there is only silence, as Zoe contemplatively bites her lip. Then, she says, “...C-can we talk about something? Somewhere private?”

* * *

 

The location we’ve chosen for our private meeting is a big practice room in the back of the jazz band room. Nobody ever goes in there to practice, because it is used to store a bunch of assorted percussion instruments. The perfect place for a heart-to-heart talk.

Zoe does not seem to be in a great hurry to say what is on her mind. She is sitting on the ground in front of me, still biting her lip bit, and now also wringing her hands.

“Okay…” she says, planting her hands on the floor. She doesn’t quite meet my eyes.

“On Tuesday,” she says, “some of my friends said something which… upset me. About Ashley, and I think about you too.”

“Oh really?” I reply. “And what did they say?”

She seemed to get nervous again, and this time she’s also blushing a bit.

I’ve very concerned for her, but at the same time, I’d like to get back out there in the parking lot sometime today. So, I start guessing at what she’s trying to get at.

“Was it something bad about the two of us?” I ask.

“Well… um… I mean, it’s like… I g-guess it…”

She doesn’t seem keen to answer that. Okay, maybe that was a bad question. Let’s try something less subjective.

“Did they seem unhappy about whatever it was?” I ask.

“Um… yes,” she says. “They said that Ashley was… Although, I still am not quite sure if it’s you they were…” She trails off again.

“What did they say we were doing?” I ask.

“Just… hanging out. Nothing special other than that,” she explains..

Oh. So, they were unhappy about Ashley hanging out with someone. And they told her about it. I think I may know what this is about.

“What exact words did they use?” I ask.

She starts wringing her hands again. “Well, she said that… well, they said something… not sure what the word means, I…”

I smile at her encouragingly. “Zoe, if what they said was something insulting, it’s okay, you can say it. I’ve been called pretty much every name in the book. I won’t be shocked.”

Zoe gulped. “O-okay. She said that… she had been hanging out with ‘that dyke…’”

“Yeah, that’s probably me then,” I say, trying to keep smiling outwardly. “I’m pretty familiar with that term.”

“But I don’t… what does…”

“A dyke is a rude thing to call a lesbian woman,” I explain to her, “or just any women who is… you know, interested in other women romantically.”

Her nervous habits have stopped by this point, and now she’s just sitting deathly still, looking at me with wide eyes.

“So, if you were able to piece that together,” I say, “I assume you know about what happened with Ruth and I?”

She continues being still for a just a moment, and then lightly nods.

Ruth was my first ever love. We dated for a while in sixth grade. But at one point, we were caught together and it… didn’t end well.

Zoe’s looking rather… frightened at this point. I think it’s time to start getting to the bottom of why she’s talking to me about this.

“So… what is it about this that upsets you?” I ask her.

She begins moving around again, just a little bit. “Well… um…”

“Are you upset with me?” I ask her. “Are you upset with Ashley? Or is it your other friends who you think are in the wrong?”

This takes her a good thirty seconds, but eventually she says, “I’m not upset with you… or with Ashley. I’m not upset with anyone. I’m just… scared.”

“What are you scared of?” I ask her.

Uh-oh. This question officially sets her off, and I see tears roll down her face. Looks like we’re going to be here for a while. That’s okay, though.

I move next to her and set an arm around her shoulder. She immediately caves in and just latches onto me, crying onto my sleeve.

After a few minutes, she finds the will to speak again.

“Y-you don’t… like her like that, d-do you?” she asks me.

“Who, Ash?” I ask. “No, she’s not really my type. I prefer someone who’s more… uh.. cooperative.”

Suddenly, I get an idea. I think I may know what this is all about. “Why do you ask?” I ask her.

She detaches herself from me and looks straight at me solemnly. “After I heard them say that… I think that… I do.”

“You do what?” I ask.

“I… like her.”

Ha! I knew it.

Zoe, however, has gone right back to crying on me.

“So, you’re worried that… if your friends find out that you feel that way about her, they won’t want to be your friends anymore?” I ask.

“My… friends,” she sputters in between sobs, “my family… everyone.”

Well, I wish I could tell her that she’s wrong, but I guess I can’t promise that. There’s one thing I can promise, though.

“I’ll still be your friend,” I tell her.

Her crying does ease up a little bit at this. But still…

“Are you worried about what Ashley will think?” I ask.

Zoe nods. “We’ve been friends… for so long,” she explains. She detaches herself from me, and starts wiping her face on her own sleeves. “If our friendship got ruined… and it’d all be my fault…”

“It wouldn’t be your fault, Zoe,” I tell her.

Her face scrunches up and goes red. “Yes… it would be.” Back to the lip biting again. “I’m the one… who had this thing…”

“You don’t get to choose who you have feelings for,” I explain to her. “Nobody gets to choose whether they like men, or women, or both, or neither, or… whatever.”

She’s just looking at me intently, so I continue.

“Some people think it’s all genetic… it could also be partially developmental. We don’t really know yet,” I explain to her. “But what we do know, is that the way you are… is not going to change. Just think of it like being left-handed!” I tell her. (This is a rather apt metaphor for me, given that I am left-handed myself. It made learning to play the trombone a pain in the ass.)

These words do not have the effect that I hoped they would. Zoe is now looking at the floor, and looks crestfallen.

“What am I… gonna do then?” she asks me.

“I think you should tell Ashley how you feel,” I tell her soothingly. “Even if she doesn’t recipo… uh… even if she doesn’t feel the same back, if she’s really your friend, she’ll understand.”

She looks up at me at last, with her wide, blue eyes. “You… you really think so?”

“I really do,” I tell her.

And with that, we really need to get back on the field. I give her a minute to wipe the rest of her face off, and then help her to her feet.

Well, I was just complaining that we hadn’t gotten any good one-on-one time, but there we go! I think we really bonded there. I kind of wonder why she came to me. I guess maybe she figured since I’m already one of those damn lesbos, I would be one of the last people to judge her. (I’m technically bi, but you know.)

And hey, I did it! I helped her with her problems. Honestly, I did such a good job, I should start charging people for this. Take a leaf out of my old man’s book.

Also, for the record, I’m like 100% sure that Ashley is also gay. I mean, come up. Just look at her. It’s so obvious. Man, I should try and find out if Nova is gay too. If he is, we’d have a full set! Score another one for the gay agenda! Mwahahaha!

* * *

 

Speaking of Nova, after marching band practice, I see him skulking around the front while I’m waiting on dad to pick me up. I take this opportunity to ask him about something I’ve been curious about for a while. (No, it’s not the gay agenda. That was a joke. There isn’t actually such thing as the gay agenda. It was made up by Fox News.)

“Hey Nova,” I begin, “you said you were from New Braunfels, right?”

“Yeah,” he replies.

“Did you ever know a Lily Kuznetsov?”

Nova gasps. “Yeah, she lived in my neighborhood! She was my best friend!”

“Well, she’s my cousin!” I say, amazed. “It’s a small world, isn’t it?”

My cousin Lily lives in New Braunfels with her grandparents. I actually know her mom (my aunt), as she lives nearby. My dad doesn’t like me hanging out with her, but I’ll go there and chat every once in a while.

“She’s your cousin?” he exclaims. “No way!”

I sit down next to him. “Well, that’s a happy coincidence,” I say.

He looks pensive now. “Um, how is she doing?” he asks. “I haven’t gotten to see her since I moved.”

“She’s on Skype, you know,” I tell him.

“Oh, really?” he says. “She wasn’t when I left. Send me her username!” he demands.

“You know, I don’t see any reason why we can’t get the three of us in a group chat,” I say. I’ve always wanted to be the admin of a group chat, and now this is my perfect chance!

After a while, he starts talking again. “It really sucks that I had to move,” he laments. “My parents got divorced.”

“Does one of your parents still live in New Braunfels?” I ask.

“Yeah, my mom does,” he says. “But I can’t go back there.”

He says this with a sort of hollow expression. Now’s probably not the time to press him on this, but I can’t help but to wonder what on earth happened to make him say that.

He looks gloomy at this point, so I try to think of something else to cheer him up.

“I’m turning sixteen this December, and then I’ll be getting my real driver’s license,” I tell him. “Maybe I can take us both up there to visit Lily?”

Nova’s eyes widen, and he looks straight up at me. “Really? You’d be able to drive all that way?”

“It’s not that far,” I tell him. “We’d just have to hop on I-35, survive whatever the traffic is like in Austin, and then exit just past San Marcos. Shouldn’t take longer than an hour. Maybe an hour and a half if Austin is bad.”

He’s grinning at me. Oh man, whenever people who don’t smile a lot smile, it’s always just so adorable. Honestly, I could pinch his cheek.

Wait a sec! I never finished my thought from earlier. Got sidetracked. I wanted to answer the question I posed: why do people participate in this insane activity we call “marching band?” Sure, maybe some do it for the art. Some do it for the graduation credits. And some probably just do it because their parents make them. But what matters the most to me… is the friends that I make along the way. Thanks for reading. This is Anja Helen Buelen, signing off.


	7. It Begins (August 22- Part 1)

<Ashley>

Flashback to April 11, 2012…

It was lunch time at El Dorado middle school. I walk outside to find my best friend, Aiko Soragami, sitting in her usual spot: the wooden bench that overlooked the tennis courts. She’s a thin girl with long black hair, and the daughter of a couple of Japanese immigrants. She has a Hello Kitty lunchbox that had contained the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she’s currently eating.

“Hi, Aiko!” I say cheerily, sitting to her right. “I was hoping to find you here.”

“Hey Ashley,” Aiko says. For some reason, she sounds… dull today.

There is an awkward pause. I suppose it’s time for me to spill what’s on my mind.

“I was going to sit with Tasha and Nathan like usual, but… they didn’t… they don’t want me to sit with them anymore.”

Aiko doesn’t say anything at first. She eats the last bite of the sandwich and closes her lunchbox. Then she asks, “You don’t have any food. Aren’t you going to eat something?”

“Um… well… I had a big breakfast,” I say, blushing a little bit. (I was hoping that she might have some extra food, but it’d be rude to ask for it now.) “Aiko… do you think that I’m a braggart?” I ask her suddenly.

“Well, I have to admit, you’ve let your skills in band get to your head a bit,” she says, still looking straight forward.

I sigh at the ground. So it is true… I guess I really do need to learn to reel it in. “It feels like nobody wants to hang around me anymore,” I tell her.

Because it’s true. Everywhere I go, I can’t shake the feeling that people are avoiding me… And with Tasha’s rejection still ringing in my ears, I can’t ignore it any longer.

Aiko doesn’t say anything to that, so we just sit here for about a minute.

As I think about what I planned to do, I feel a fresh wave of anxiety… but I just have to do it. I have to find out. It’s going to tear me apart from the inside if I don’t.

I turn to her. “But… you still like me, right?”

Then, my nerves get the better of me, and I grab her hand. She furrows her eyebrows and says, “Um, Ashley…?”

“Because I like you,” I say very quickly and nervously, the words spilling from me before I can stop them. “I like you a lot. Like, as more than just friends. And if you…”

But then, she retracts her hand from me, looking shocked. She quickly gets up, and just looks at me for about thirty seconds, before turning around and sort of jogging away.

And… um… I’m not sure what to do from there.

Maybe I should’ve… took it a little slower? I may have freaked her out by grabbing her hand…

Of course, I’d been preparing myself for this… She may not be interested in other girls, or in me… And of course, I can’t fault her for that. But somehow, I can’t shake the plummeting feeling in my stomach… Had I just messed up our whole friendship? Aiko’s the only one left now who’s willing to be friends with me… if I lost her… Or had she already been having second thoughts about me? She seemed so cold the whole time, even before I popped the question… She’s normally so sweet and polite...

All of these thoughts are going to drive me nuts with anxiety, so I get up to head back into the school.

As I go through the door, I see Emily approaching from the other way. I hold the door open and say, “Hey Emily!”

She glares at me suspiciously and uses the other door. “Don’t get too close to me,” she says.

“Huh?” I say stupidly, as I feel another stab in my stomach. What on earth is going on…? We never knew each other that well, but I’ve never seen her act like this…

Then, I gaze down the hallway, and…

I see a group of other girls partway down the hallway, all looking at me, some of them pointing.

And in the middle of them, was Aiko.

It seems that all of my worst fears are confirmed.

* * *

 

I feel numb. I feel nothing but numb. I don’t want to think about anything. I can’t.

I hear the sound of the door opening and closing.

“Hey Ashley! I’m home!” My father’s voice says.

I can’t find it in me to respond. I just sit there. Blank. My eyes are glued to the television screen. I’m watching a re-run of some old Nick show.

After about a minute, I hear my father’s voice again.

“Hey, didn’t we still have half a tub of ice cream left? Don’t tell me you ate all of it! That’s not good for your teeth.”

I don’t say anything. An empty tub of ice cream sits to my left, the spoon still sitting on the inside.

I hear footsteps behind me, indicating that my dad has entered the room. I’m expecting him to yell, but instead, there’s a few seconds of silence. And then...

“Well… on the other hand, I’m not a big fan of caramel in ice cream, so I’m glad you finished it off for me.” I hear him shifting around behind me, and then I feel him scratching my back. “Rough day at school?”

I don’t say anything. How could I explain what happened?

I already lost all of my friends. I can’t risk losing my parents, too.

“Hey, I think I remember this,” my dad says. “What’s this show called again?”

“Hey Arnold,” I say weakly. “It’s an old Nickelodeon show.”

“Hey, it’s not that old!” my father says. “I think this was coming out around the time your mom got married, when we had first moved here… okay, I guess that’s old for you.”

There was a minute of awkward silence, and then he puts a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, um… If you need to talk, you can always come to your mom and I. You can tell us anything, I promise.”

I don’t say anything to this.

Still just numb.

If only he knew...

After a while, he sighs, and then exits the room.

Meanwhile, in Hey Arnold, Arnold and an old man wearing a sort of pilot’s hat walk through a door onto a roof. Everything up there had been trashed, and was lying in ruins.

“What?” Arnold asks. “This is awful! Who did this?”

The other man sadly begins walking away. “People, Arnold,” he says.

“We can rebuild your cages… and sweep up,” Arnold says hopefully, putting a piece of furniture back upright. “Your birds will come back!”

“Of course they’ll come back,” the man says, standing near the edge of the roof. “They’re birds. I trust them. I understand them. It’s people I don’t understand. You see Arnold… it’s time for me to leave here. Some people are meant to be with people. And some people, like me, are just… different.”

As you can imagine, this scene just lifts my spirits.

No, I’m being sarcastic. I start bawling my eyes out. So much so, that I never actually find out how the episode ends.

* * *

 

[Well… It feels like everyone hates me now. All of the others at school do. Even Aiko hates me. If my parents knew about me, they’d probably hate me too. But… You don’t hate me, do You?] [That’s not even possible… right?]

[I just… I don’t want this anymore. You are the master of healing, right? You can take this away from me, this sickness.]

[Please, Lord, please just take this away from me. I know I’ve been acting like a bad person. I don’t want to be like that anymore. Please…]

* * *

 

Back to 2014…

It was the morning of the first football game. I’m dressed in the under-uniform band clothes: a school t-shirt and basketball shorts. I’m very meticulously brushing my hair in the bathroom.

Why are these memories coming back now…? Truth be told, I usually try not to think about what happened that day.

There’s a soft knock on the door. “Don’t be too much longer,” Dad says. “We gotta leave in about five minutes.”

“What time is it?” I ask, still brushing my hair.

“7:24,” he says.

“Oh shiiiii… oot,” I say. “I’ll be right out.”

I guess I lost track of time while I was being all emo and shit.

[That was the day that everything changed for me…]

[Whenever I ask myself, “Oh God, what happened to me?” Well, that’s the answer, isn’t it?]

* * *

 

I suppose today’s a pretty important day, too. Apart from the first football game, I have my first quizzes in two of my classes, the first one being my AP Human Geography class.

Most AP classes are reserved for our junior and senior years, but Human Geography is offered to a special selection of students who got excellent grades in eighth grade history.

Zoe could’ve gotten into here with me, but she actually chose to decline, not wanting the extra pressure. I can’t blame her. She’s a pretty bright kid, but she just goes to pieces any time there’s a quiz or test, and AP classes have quite a lot of those. Unfortunately, the absence of her company means that I have to deal with these idiots by myself.

While reviewing some flashcards I had made in the minutes before class, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I don’t even turn to look around, because I already know what’s about to happen.

“Hey Ashley! Can I… see those real quick?”

That’s Diana Coleman. Like Zoe, she goes to my church, but I’ve never liked her all that much. She’s always come across to me as a bit of an idiot. She’s basically one of those kids who wants to get through school without putting any work in. So obviously, I tell her “no.”

“...No? Please Ashley? I’m panicking!”

“That’s not my fault,” I say, because it isn’t. I’m the one who went through the trouble to put these together, not her.

I would’ve loved to get back to reviewing, but at that point I’m interrupted yet again, by a familiar, whiny voice which is now impersonating a stereotypical old English accent, saying “Sorry, the peasants must payeth thy taxes before speaking to the queen!”

I turn my head head to right, and I see him: Mason Wallace.

Mason Wallace is a boy whom I dislike possibly more than anyone else on the entire planet. I understand from the Bible that hatred is a sin, but I gotta admit, I fucking hate him. Think Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series, without any of Draco’s more redeeming qualities from the later books, and you’d be on the right track. He even has the same blonde hair.

There he sat, grinning at me in such a way so as to invoke my inner sadist. Okay, no, wait, this is important, I need to interrupt myself again to make this point. Let me give you an idea here. You know how Anja has that smile she sometimes gives me that just inexplicably annoys me? Mason’s is like, 100 times worse. Scratch that, 200 times.

“You saved the day again!” He says to me. “You sure showed Diana the importance of preparing b-”

“Mason. Shut the fuck up. I’m studying.” I whisper, cutting him off mid sentence. Because I am just not in the mood to put up with his shit. Not after my little _experience_ this morning.

He smirks at me, evidently delighted that he got a reaction out of me. Which is the wrong response. If he knew what was going on inside my brain, he would be sprinting out of the classroom as fast as he could.

Fortunately for him, the quiz is being passed out at that point. Next time…

After the quiz, and band rehearsal, it’s time for lunch again. This time, all three of the others are already sitting down when I arrive. Zoe is eating in silence. She’s still acting a bit funny towards me. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something hanging in the air between us.

As usual, Nova is playing his DS under the table, but what’s less usual is that Anja is too. I’m not bothered by this, as it may mean I’m spared from whatever asinine rambling she had prepared for today. She had followed up on Wednesday’s conversation with a long rant yesterday about some other superhero movie released earlier this year, and how she shipped Captain America with some guy who was his childhood friend or something. I wasn’t really paying attention.

The lunch went on in relative silence, with Anja and/or Nova occasionally swearing or making some comment about what’s going on. A lot of it is gibberish to me, but I do occasionally pick up on a name I recognize, such as Lucario or Alakazam.

You see, I did play Pearl back in the day. I completed almost the whole Pokédex in it. I remember Lucario in particular, because it was one of the most difficult to get. It turns out that this was because it was pretty good, so for my troubles I made it the crowned jewel of my team. After getting everything I could on my own and getting the rest from my friends (with a lot of battling in between that I usually won,) I went online to verify if I really did have every one. It turns out that there actually are three Pokémon that you could only get at “events.” This pissed me off, so I stopped playing the game.

Jeez, look at me going off again. I guess I’m just being sentimental today.

It looks like Nova won, because after several minutes Anja swears loudly and slams her head down onto the table.

“Damn you!” she exclaims. “I was not expecting that Mega-Lucario to come with Stone Edge. I thought I had you cornered with Talonflame!”

“Oh, so you like Mega-Lucario?” Nova boasts, clearly enjoying his victory.

“It’s OP as fuck,” Anja replies. “Hence why Smogon banned it!”

She catches sight of the bewildered look on my face and bursts into laughter.

“I bet it’s even OP enough to take out Lily’s Darkrai!” Nova continues. (I shouldn’t remember this, but Darkrai is one of those damned event-exclusive ones.) “I can’t wait to finally re-match her…”

“Who is Lily?” Zoe suddenly interjects, seeming interested. Admittedly, this is not a bad question.

“My cousin, who know him from back when he lived in New Braunfels,” Anja explains.

“Oh. I can’t imagine what it’s like to move,” Zoe says. “I’ve lived in Enchantment City my whole life. You must miss your friends!”

Nova doesn’t really say anything to this.

“What was it that caused you to move?” Zoe asks him tenderly.

Once again, Nova doesn’t acknowledge her, just going back into his usual sullen silence that he had before the Pokémon battle.

“Hey, she’s just trying to be nice, dude,” I tell him.

Because he’s kind of pissing me off. I know how Zoe is. She wants to be friends with absolutely everybody and always wants to be nice. I don’t know what his problem is.

At that point, however, Anja tries to save the awkward moment by asking Zoe and I questions about our exposure to the Pokémon franchise, and the lunch period continues as normal.

* * *

 

At long fucking last, I’m done with tests and quizzes for the day. Just got done with my first root word quiz in Biology. Pretty sure I nailed it.

As I walk out of the classroom, however, I bump into Zoe. Not unlikely, given that she has class in the same room afterwards.

She just about runs into me, looking scared halfway out of her wits. “How was it?” she asks. “I don’t even know what is the how this going.”

….Did I just have a stroke, or was that total gibberish?

“Um… can you say that again, slowly?” I ask her.

Zoe just looks up at me, looking as if she’s about to burst into tears. “How can you stay so calm all the time? Every time I have to take another test I feel like my brain is slowly unraveling…”

“Zoe, there’s nothing wrong with you,” I say as softly as I can manage. “You just have… uh, testing anxiety.”

“Are you sure I’m not just stupid?”

“W- No, Zoe, you’re not stupid.” I put my hands on Zoe’s shoulders. “And I go to this school, so I know all about stupid.”

Zoe smiles and seems a little calmer. “Well, okay…”

But then, she looks straight up at me into my eyes. “Ashley… we need to talk about something…”

“What is it?” I ask.

She’s halfway done opening her mouth when a few other girls walk near us. One of them is Diana. I guess she’s a bit salty about Human Geo, because she’s glaring at me. The next is Terra, another girl from church I never quite clicked with. Always came across as two-faced to me. She’ll always say some horrible shit about whoever just left the room. Always just makes me wonder what she’s saying about me when I leave. The third is Yonca, who admittedly is alright. The worst thing about her is the company that she chooses. But one-on-one, she’s nice enough.

Anyways, I take my hand off of Zoe’s shoulder. She turns to see what I’m looking at, and says “Um… later.”

Then, she and the other three file into the classroom.

Damn. Something about those three appearing made her nervous.

Zoe actually seems to be pretty good friends with that lot, which should just serve as a testament to how well she can get along with literally anyone, as far as I'm concerned.


	8. Ignition (August 22- Part 2)

<Ashley>

After school that day, the band has a final, short practice out in the parking lot, and following that, we split up, eat, and then grab our uniforms. The first game is an away game at Pflugerville High School (quite a name, I know), so instead of just walking down to our stadium we all have to get on a set of school busses.

Zoe and I, of course, made sure that we signed up for the same bus, and when I walk aboard the bus I see that a certain pair of troublemakers is also going to be traveling with us. Zoe is in a seat near the front right in front of them, so I slide in next to her.

Behind us, Anja and Nova are playing more video games. Not Pokémon this time, though past that I couldn’t tell you what it is. Whatever it is, it involves a lot of flying and shooting.

“Hey Anja, you know what they should add this this game as DLC?” Nova shouts. “The ability to ride dragons!”

“Why would they add that?” Anja questions.

“BECAUSE IT WOULD BE FUCKING AWESOME!” Nova retorts.

I roll my eyes at Zoe, who giggles nervously.

“Those two and their games,” I say to Zoe. “I haven’t played video games in a while, I’ve been too focused on school and band.”

“Same here,” Zoe says. “I used to play on the Wii a lot with my brothers. We loved to play Super Smash Bros.”

“I had that one for the GameCube,” I say. “Who was your favorite character?” (I ask this because I have a theory that which characters people choose in video games says a lot about their personality.)

“Kirby,” Zoe says. “What about you?”

“I found out that the best fighter is Samus,” I tell her. “Did you know Samus is actually a girl under that armor?”

“Oh yes!” Zoe says. “I can’t not know that, given how she has a tendency to strip down to a skin-tight suit…”

“She does that? Awwh, I should’ve played the Wii version,” I say.

Zoe giggles nervously again. I wonder if that joke was too dirty for her.

There’s an awkward pause, in which I hear Anja loudly singing “Come And Get Your Love” by Redbone.

“Hey, you mind quieting down a bit?” I ask her to cover the awkward moment. 

“Sorry, Ash,” she says, grinning. “I just had to rub my victory in his face.”

“You haven’t won yet!” Nova says furiously. 

This kind of nonsense continues the whole way to the field. 

* * *

 

To tell the truth, I’ve never really been that interested in sports, so if I weren’t in band I probably wouldn’t bother showing up to the football games. Thankfully, being in the band gives me plenty to do during them.

After marching onto the fields in full uniform (a bit dramatic if you ask me,) we take our places in the stands to play some shorter pieces of music, most of which are based off of mainstream rock/pop songs, during the game. We don’t play the entire time, though, just whenever Mr. Castro says we can. There’s some sort of invisible calculus that band directors have to use to determine when the appropriate time is to play during the game. 

Then, of course, there’s the halftime show, which is honestly the only part of this ordeal I was looking forward to. We play the beginning of the show we’ve been preparing all month now for contests. I’m glad that we have these games to act as a sort of trial run, because being out there on the football field for the first time is quite nerve wracking: in front of God and everyone, without the aid of the handy blue dots that are marked in the parking lot to help us find our spots. I think I pulled it off okay for the first time.

Then, the director has the mercy to give us most of the third quarter off, so that we can partially take off our uniforms and rest our faces. Since we aren’t playing for a bit, some people are crossing over into other sections to talk to their friends. I take this opportunity, first and foremost, to use the bathroom.

The bathroom at the stadium is terrible, which I suppose is to be expected. It’s filthy as all hell, and one of the two bathroom stalls is out of order. Nobody else is in there when I go except for Yonca, who waves at me but otherwise does not acknowledge me in any way. Which is just fine with me.

I’m a bit surprised to find Zoe standing outside when I exit the bathroom. She doesn’t make any move to go in after me, and instead just looks upon me, looking nervous about something.

“Hey Zoe,” I say to her. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” she says, before abruptly grabbing me and bringing me into a deep hug. 

I’m taken by surprise, but I hug her back all of the same. I figure that the experience of playing the halftime show must have softened her up emotionally. 

“Ashley,” she says, “You’ve been such a good friend to me…”

“Well, I do try,” I tell her. “I won’t deny that I have a soft spot for you.” (I dare not say more, of course.)

I was hoping that this bit of information would act as a pick-me-up, but to my surprise she begins sobbing on me.

“Hey,” I say to her gently as I remember something, “You wanted to talk earlier, right? How about we step somewhere out of the way for a bit?”

She nods at me, still sniffling, but if anything seems even more nervous than before. I figure that whatever’s going on, it must be weighing upon her very heavily.

* * *

 

So, we find a quiet spot behind the concession stands, in between that and the wire fence that separates us from the currently deserted main high school building.

When we get there, Zoe doesn’t seem to be in a big hurry. For a while, she just looks at the ground and sort of twitches nervously.

I am pretty well acquainted with her nervous habits, as she tends to act this way before major events which she’s worried about, like major tests or auditions. And as much as I am concerned for her in these situations, I can not deny that there is something endearing about it all.

“Ashley,” she begins, “I really do… um… appreciate your friendship,” she tells me slowly. “It would really be…” 

But she doesn’t seem to want to finish that thought, and she sort of curls up into a ball by grabbing her legs. Suddenly, I think I have a hunch as to why she’s acting like this.

“Zoe,” I begin, “You can tell me what’s going on. No matter what it is, I promise I won’t be mad.” I pause, and then add, “As long as, you know, you haven’t commit any felonies.” 

She manages to weakly chuckle at this. This assurance does seem to make her feel a bit better, as she is now sniffling less frequently. And yet, I can still see terror in her eyes, like if there was a chance that an unseen sniper might take her out at any moment.

“Ashley… I…” and then she hangs on it, for a while. It’s getting to the point where it’s starting to get infuriating.

“You what?” I can’t help but to interject eagerly.

I guess this was the wrong thing to do, because she bursts into tears again. 

I pull back towards me into a hug, and she returns it seemingly automatically and begins sobbing on the front of my shirt.

“It’s okay, Zoe,” I tell her soothingly. I’m not sure what compels me to do it, but I start running my fingers through her hair. 

Then, unexpectedly, I hear her quickly say “Iloveyouashley.” 

It takes me a few seconds before I process what she said. But then, I start to feel elated. Surely she can’t mean…

She’s looking up at me now, her eyes wide, seemingly trying to gauge my reaction to this proclamation. And all the while, I’m pressed up against her with my fingers in her hair. I have to admit, the whole scene does seem rather… romantic. The truth starts to truly sink in.

I put my hand on her cheek tenderly.

“Zoe…” I say to her, trying think of some way to put my feelings into words.

“And I m-mean as more than friends!” she says to me fervently. She follows this up with a loud sniffle. “I just really think… you…”

This time, she doesn’t finish her sentence because I cut her off midway by leaning forward and kissing her on the lips.

* * *

 

Whenever we pull away, I see that Zoe looks pleased and is blushing furiously.

“Was.. um… that your first kiss too?” she asks me.

“Wow, that obvious, huh?” I tease. She giggles, perhaps a little more loudly than necessary.

Suddenly, I think to turn around. Thankfully, I don’t see anyone watching us.

Zoe seems to be thinking along these same lines, because she suddenly pulls away from me, looking sheepish. 

“Well, Zoe, I feel the same way,” I tell her. My phone vibrates, but I ignore it. “I have for quite some time, honestly.”

“Really?” she says, her eyes opening wide with amazement.

“Yes, and I’m very glad that you… okay, what the hell is that?” I exclaim suddenly, as the sappy lecture I had been preparing is interrupted my phone vibrating again.

“Oh, is your phone going off too?” she asks.

I take out my phone and see that the notifications are from Skype. I’ve apparently been added to a group chat with Zoe and Anja.

“Oh, that girl,” I say as my phone is loading the app. I’m also trying to remember if I ever gave Anja my Skype information. Did I do that during boot camp and just forgot about it?

The notifications were from Anja, who sent two messages to us: “Hey y’all,” and “Did you two kiss yet? -kissing emoji-”

I look up at Zoe, alarmed. “Has she been spying on us?” I ask. “How does she know?”

I’m surprised to see that Zoe is looking back at me with a smile. “Umm… no, she’s not spying. I… told her that I liked you,” she tells me.

“I didn’t think you two were close,” I tell her, surprised.

“We… weren’t,” she admits.

* * *

 

I have to admit, it’s a pretty great feeling, to know that, after all this time, Zoe actually feels the same way that I do. Especially with my last crush ending in such a total fiasco.

Of course, even now in my inner euphoria, I can sense problems and threats on the horizons. Zoe and I agreed to date in secret for the time being, because if what happened between us today became common knowledge… well, things could get ugly. 

First of all, our classmates. I am well aware that the culture of our school is pretty fucked up. Bullies will take the slightest deviation from the norm and use it as an excuse to ostracize someone, or even downright turn them into a social pariah. Of course, I am not worried about this for myself. The aftermath of Aiko’s betrayal back in Concord forced me to get quite used to this behavior, so I am confident that I can withstand anything. But given that Zoe is caught up in this with me, it is certainly in my interest to keep our love a secret for her sake. She’s always been one of the lucky ones to escape the notice of the social hierarchy, so she’ll have never dealt with anything like that before.

Secondly, our parents. I, obviously, did not tell my parents about what happened between Aiko and I back in the day, and so I won’t be telling them about this. I suppose I don’t technically know how they would react, given that they have never indicated to me their feelings on this sort of thing. But, as a best case scenario, I imagine that they would be under considerable pressure from their own peers to try and discipline me in some way or stop me from seeing Zoe. And as nice as they have always been towards me, I imagine Zoe’s parents to be in a similar boat.

Thirdly, on a related note, the church that Zoe and I attend. Unlike my parents, our church has made their feelings on same-sex relationships perfectly clear, and I do not see our relationship being received warmly, not while the majority of the membership seem to regard a nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage to be the equivalent of a second 9/11. (And that’s not an exaggeration, the pastor said something like that once. If that sounds like the most fucking batshit thing you’ve ever heard, join the club.) I don’t much fancy being pestered by random townsfolk every Sunday, so that’s yet another incentive to keep Zoe and I’s relationship under wraps. (I also don’t quite agree with the church’s attitude. Not just for self-interest reasons, but also on a theological and regular logical level. But now’s not the time to get into that, I’ve already been ranting for way too long.)

But, I try not to think about all that, at least beyond what it takes to not do something reckless in public. 

We go back into the stands together, and as we approach the middle where the saxes and mellos would normally sit (separated by the trumpets,) I see a tiny arm in the section behind mine that is waving frantically.

“We may as well oblige her,” I tell Zoe, “since we’re still on break.”

Anja, the owner of the arm, is giving us a look so smug that I get a strange urge to backhand her across the face. Nova is, guess what. No really, guess. If your guess was “he’s playing his goddamn DS again,” you are correct!

“So,” Anja says, as we take a seat near her.

“So what?” I ask.

“How was it?” she asks, her eyes looking oddly hungry. 

“How was what?” I ask, determined not to let her butt in on our business.

“Oh, come on, Ashley,” Anja replies, “I know what was going on down there.”

“Good for you,” I retort.

A few more moments pass in silence, as we just stare each other down. The silence (or relative silence, given how noisy everything is at the game), is interrupted by Nova, who had suddenly looked up and asked, “what are you two doing up here?”

“Selling girl scout cookies,” I reply in what I hope is a scathingly sarcastic tone.

“You guys are in girl scouts?” Nova asks, looking genuinely interested.

“So,” Anja says dramatically, as if Nova had not interrupted the previous conversation. “Are you two officially...”

“Shut up!” I say, cutting her off. I look around to see if anyone is watching us. “We are, but don’t go around gossiping about us, it’s kind of a secret.”

“Oh really?” Anja asks. “I suppose I can’t blame you.”

“Yeah,” I reply, “But if one or both of us turns up dead on the side of the road, you have a good guess as to what happened.” 

“Oh, I don’t think you’re going to turn up dead,” Anja says seriously. “Lesbians are far less likely to be victims of hate crimes than gay men. You see, the right’s fear of homosexuality is balanced out just enough by the straight man’s naughty, sexual joy of watching two women make out.”

“That’s our cue to leave,” I say, getting to my feet and taking a hold of Zoe’s arm, since otherwise I think I might  _ actually _ hit her.

As I march us back to our rightful sections, I hear Zoe call to her, “Thanks for the help!”

Then, she turns back to me and asks, “You don’t think we’re going to going to be… you know…”

“Murdered? No, I was joking about that,” I assure her. “Of course, I’m not going to pretend that  _ nothing _ bad would happen…”

On that ominous note, I am interrupted by orders to play “The Hey Song,” and so Zoe and I scuttle back to our respective spots.

* * *

 

The bus ride back home is a nice one. Due to the fact that by now it’s pitch black, we get away with holding hands. It’s nice.

However, at about the time we are cruising back into Enchantment City, Zoe turns to me and asks, “Ashley? Do you… think we’re doing something wrong in all of this?”

I turn to her and lock eyes. I had expected this to come up.

“No, not really,” I tell her. However, I can’t think of a way to explain myself without someone nearby overhearing what we’re talking about, so I tell her, “We’ll talk about it more later.”

She just looks back at me, still looking worried. I want so badly to embrace her, to feel her, to reassure her by any means necessary… But I don’t want to push our luck.

And it really is too bad. As we all tiredly saunter off the buses back at the school, I can’t help but to wish that I had left her on a more positive note. 

Thankfully, I catch her just before she goes off to her mom’s car, so I hurriedly make a path through the percussionists, who are pushing all of the pit equipment back into the band hall.  


“Want to come to my house after church on Sunday?” I ask.

She smiles at me. “That would be nice,” she says.

I can’t help myself any longer, so I pull her into one last hug before we go. She momentarily puts her sax down to hug me back.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” I whisper to her softly. “I promise.”

After we’re done, I watch her as she pulls open the door to her mom’s car, thinking that I wish I had a way of following up upon that promise.


	9. Darkrai (August 23)

<Nova>

Flashback to June 11, 2013…

We’re sitting under a large screened area which contains a dirty glass table and chairs. In the corner sits a dilapidated hot tub. At the table, we are locked in combat. Unfortunately, things aren’t going so well for me.

“Are you shitting your pants yet?” Lily asks me.

“No!” I exclaim. “That’s gross!” 

Her Darkrai (or as I call it, King Motherfucker, or “the fucker” for short,) finishes off my Scrafty with a second Thunderbolt. 

I had been hoping that a Hi Jump Kick would wipe the fucker out, but I never even got a chance to find out, thanks to Dark Void. 

“We’re battling again,” I tell her, incensed. “And this time, you’re not allowed to use your  _ goddamn piece of shit  _ Darkrai.”

Lily cackles evilly. “You mean you’ve had all these years and a whole new generation, and you still haven’t found a better counter?”

I was hoping that Scrafty, being quad-resistant to Dark Pulse and immune to Psychic, would be able to take attacks long enough for Shed Skin to kick in. But no…

“That thing is  _ fucking  _ broken!” I say. “It’s an unfair  _ f  _ -…”

She shushes me before I can finish my thought. “Stop swearing,” she whispers, “I hear someone coming.”

Next time, I will need to prepare something that is either fast enough to outspeed that thing (which few things are, that thing having a base speed of 125. It will take something with Crobat-tier speed to do the trick, EV trained.) 

My train of thought is interrupted when I find out who Lily was referring to. Her grandma has come out onto the porch with us, holding a small box that's wrapped with multi colored wrapping paper.

“Oh man,” I say. “Is that…”

“Here’s your birthday present,” she says. “Consider it a thank you for being such a good friend to Lily all these years.”

She lays the box down on the table. I begin tearing it open anxiously. I can’t believe it… It can’t be… I honestly had forgotten it was my birthday today, but I guess it is...

“No way!” I shout, as I see exactly what I hoped it would be: a new 3DS! “My mom’s gonna be p- ticked off at you guys!” My mom has been getting onto me for my video games a lot recently. 

“You’ll just have to keep it our little secret,” Lily says, winking at me..

“You may want to be heading home soon,” her grandma says. “I’m sure your parents will want to spend your birthday with you.”

I'm not so sure about that. “I’m not in a big hurry,” I tell her.

“Yeah, grandma, it’s only four!” Lily says quickly. “He can stay a little bit longer. We still have business to settle, after all.”

Her grandma chuckles. “All right, just don’t be out here too late.”

After her grandma goes back into the house, Lily looks at me. “Are your parents…”

“Yeah,” I say quickly, because I know exactly what she’s going to ask and I don’t want to hear her say it out loud.

As I take the system out of its box and turn it on, I start thinking about what games I would like on it. Obviously, X and Y is coming out in about four months. Star Fox 64 3D is a must...

“Oh yeah, before I forget,” Lily says, “you can have this now.”

She gives me another wrapped box, this one smaller and square-shaped. I have a feeling that there’s a game in there, and sure enough, it’s Mario Kart 7!

“You guys are so cool,” I say to her, feeling even more appreciation for her and her family. This reminds me of something, though... “Shit. I forgot to tell your grandparents thank you!”

Lily laughs at me. “Don’t sweat it.”

I can’t help but to “sweat it,” though. I know from experience that people get angry at you if you don’t thank them when they give you presents.

While I’m entering in my name and the date and everything, I can’t help but to start thinking about what I was trying not to earlier.  


“Man, I hope that I don’t have to move,” I say. “You know I’m not too good at making new friends.”

Lily doesn’t have a response for this. 

* * *

 

To take my mind off of the depressing shit, I continue plotting against the Darkrai while I ride my bike home later. Perhaps I could try and use a priority move? The problem is, the only priority move I can think of that gets super effective coverage is Mach Punch, which is too weak. 

When I arrive at the back door, I can hear the voices yelling already. I’ll have to be quick.

Maybe Technician Breloom? Where do you get Shroomish in B2W2, anyway? I don’t think it’s in the regional dex.

“...won’t even please your own wife!” My mom’s voice shouts as I open the door. “What kind of man are you?”

“One who wants some peace and quiet that YOU won’t let me have!” My dad shouts back.

Whew, I managed to get by without them noticing me. Anyways, Technician is a Dream World ability, so getting a hold of one of those may be more trouble than it’s worth.

“Well, newsflash, Jace,  _ the rest of us in society  _ don’t get any peace and quiet! We won’t until we’re  _ dead _ !”

Real charmer, my mother is. Anyways, now that I’m home I think I should continue on playing Star Fox Assault. 

“Ain’t you ever gonna chill for just  _ two seconds!  _ You ain’t human!”

It’s one of those old GameCube games that I’ve been putting off playing through for ages, and last weekend I started it and played through the first few missions.

“I  _ ain’t  _ soft like you, I work for a god damn living and I’m tired of getting questions about why I still put up with you!”

Is it as good as 64? Probably not, but I did really like this game’s version of the Star Wolf fight.

“It’s no wonder you don’t even know how to raise a child right!” 

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“You know that boy ain’t right,  _ Jace!  _ ”

Damn it, I wish they would shut up. I don’t see Kat anywhere, I bet she’s hiding in her room again.

“You heard what that doctor said! It ain’t no one’s fault!”

“I don’t give a damn about any doctor! You’re too weak to knock any sense into him, that’s what the problem is!”

So anyway, the last thing I remember is the team was on the hunt for Pigma, who is apparently on some snow planet. 

There is a loud clattering of dishes from the kitchen, followed by footsteps. “I ain’t gonna be  _ knocking  _ anything… you’re crazy, woman!”

“DON’T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME!”

I usually don’t care for ice levels in video games, but since this is an air combat game I imagine it shouldn’t be too difficult to deal with.

Suddenly, a huge crash sounds from the kitchen as a plate was hurled against the wall.

“JESUS CHRIST!” the man yells.

That’s the second time that’s happened this month. Can’t they just let me play my games in peace?

* * *

 

Back to 2014…

Yeah, that was pretty much my life back then, before my parents finally officially got divorced. The good news was, my younger sister and I got to go with my dad, which is good because my mom is a crazy psychotic bitch. The bad news is, we had to move into an apartment in Enchantment City, so I haven’t seen Lily since we moved. 

At least I have one friend down here, Lily’s cousin Anja. (She’s also friends with these other two girls, but I don’t really like them.) Anja said she’d come over to my place today to play Smash Bros, and the thought of that is what has gotten me through today.

I’m warming up by owning a bunch of lv. 9 CPUs as King Dedede, who’s my main, when there’s knocking on the door. I pause the game and run up to the door. I check the peephole, and it’s Anja, so I open it.

“Hey there Nov,” she says. “Hmm. Nov… Your name isn't shortened quite as easily as the others.”

“Is it that girl of yours?” My dad calls out from the kitchen.

“Yeah!” I call back, and I really wish he hadn’t said that because as we walk back into the living room, Kat appears at the door to her bedroom.

“Ooh, Nova’s got a girlfriend now,” she says.

“Shut up,” I tell her. “Get back to your room.”

“I’m surprised at you, Nova. I thought you were gay!”

“You don’t know what I am,” I tell her. She runs away giggling, and I make to slap her but miss and hit the wall on purpose.

“You never told me that you have a little sister!” Anja says to me.

“Yeah, well, I try to forget she exists,” I say, as I make my way back to the TV. “Come on, it’s time to Smash.”

I hear her giggling behind me too, though I can’t figure out why.

* * *

 

Smash Bros. is going great. I’m winning probably three quarters of the matches we’re in. She’s trying to counter my Dedede with fast characters like Sonic and Sheik. Along the way, though, we discuss what’s really important in life: which characters will show up in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. (Personally, I’m pulling for Mewtwo to return.)

After my fourth consecutive win, Anja finishes off her third Dr. Pepper with a loud slurp. “Man, what is your secret, Nova?” she asks me.

I shrug. 

“Don’t tell me you were practicing the whole day before I came over?” Anja says.

“No, we only got home about thirty minutes before you got here,” I tell her.

“Really?” she replies. “Where were you.”

Awh, damn it. I’d really rather not talk about it, but now I don’t have any choice.

“I had to go to civil court,” I tell her.

“You were in  _ court? _ ” she asks. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” I say. “My mom’s trying to get custody back of my sister and I.” 

“Hmm,” Anja says. “How do you feel about that?”

“I hope she doesn’t win. She’s an insane psychopath.”

“Really?” Anja says. She’s stopped looking at the game and is now staring at me.

“But she doesn’t act like that when we’re in court,” I explain. ”She acts all professional and shit like she’s at work. The judge, Justice Pavia, seems totally fooled by her. She keeps telling him that my dad’s some deadbeat who can’t support us, which is not true at all. But what can I say? My mom’s a lawyer, so she must know how to get on judge’s good sides.”

I pause for moment. I guess I said a little more than I had to there. “The Justice is kind of a dick too,” I add. “He’s this old guy who thinks he can talk shit, keeps calling my dad ‘low-class.’”

Anja shakes her head. “My dad said that man was crooked,” she says.

“He acts like he’s the king of the world!” I say angrily, glad that she is agreeing with me. 

We continue on with the next match. She must be really desperate now, she’s playing as Fox.

“So, what did your mom do to make you not want to live with her?” she asks me.

“She’s horrible,” I explain. “Always screaming at my dad, and at my sister and I, and throws stuff around when she doesn’t get her way. She always calls me a ‘freak’ and tries to stop me from playing video games.”

I don’t plan for all of this to come out. I just find that once I started ranting about this, it’s hard to stop.

“So you’d prefer to live with your dad?” she says. “Your situation does seem… unusual.”

“It’s hell, is what it is,” I go on. “I really don’t want to have to go back to living with her…”

I’m so distracted that Anja knocks out one of my stocks, but I don’t really care that much.

“Why does she call you a freak?” Anja asks.

I reeeally don’t want to answer that. So I don’t, for a while.

“It’s a really horrible thing for a parent to say to any child,” she elaborates. “Is it just because you like to play games, or…”

“It's because I have Asperger’s,” I tell her.

There’s a pause. I can’t help but to feel nervous that she won’t like that. Or, maybe she doesn’t know what that is…?

“I thought you might,” she says, after a while. “I’m so sorry, Nova. That’s really despicable of your mom to insult you for that.”

We don’t talk to each other for a while after that. I’m so distracted that I end up losing the match.

“Let’s take a break,” I say afterwards. I put the controller down. 

I see out of the corner of my eye that Anja is watching me. I wonder if she’s able to tell how I feel. If she knows about the empty feeling I feel right now. 

“You know, we ought to figure out how to put that man in his place,” Anja says suddenly.

I look up at her, startled. “There’s no way we can do that!” I reply. “My dad just has to sit there and take it, or he’ll get thrown out of the courtroom!”

Anja starts acting kind of strange, looking around the room and moving her hands.

“It’s not fair,” she says finally. “There has to be some way to fight back… even though we’re kids…”

“If you find out something, I’d love to hear about it.” I tell her. I pick up my own Dr. Pepper and start drinking it for something to do.

“When I’m an adult,” she says, “I’m not going to let shit like this happen anymore. People like that Justice Pavia don’t deserve power. People like you and I should be the ones ruling.”

I can’t ever imagine myself being a judge or anything like that, but I bet she won’t want to be interrupted while she’s being all angry.

“The tides are turning here in America,” she says. “I can smell it. Soon, the people will be tired of listening to these backwards asshats, and they’re gonna get what’s coming to them.”

...I have no idea what she’s talking about now. 

“Come on, another round,” I say, picking my controller back up.

* * *

 

It’s dark outside when Anja leaves for home at last.

I don’t really want to stop playing Smash Bros: now that I’m on a roll, I want to go try my hand at online playing. Before I can, though, my dad comes into the living room and sits on the couch.

“You got any homework this weekend?”

I feel a stab at annoyance at being interrupted. “I don’t know,” I say.

“You should go check,” he tells me. “I won’t be here tomorrow to remind you to do it.”

“You just wanna watch TV, don’t you?” I say to him.

My dad sighs. I hear him rustling around behind me, and before I know it he’s sitting on the floor next to me.

“Listen to me, kid,” he says. “I know you’ve got a tough time, with all of this with your mom. But you gotta get a grip on your academics,” he says. “You don’t want to end up like me when you grow up.”

I stare at the screen, watching the animation the game plays when it’s connecting to the wifi. And in my head, I see my dad. Working his shitty job, getting home late at night, not getting paid… I bet he feels like I’m ungrateful.

I reach over to the Wii and turn it off. “I’ll go check my stuff,” I say.

He rustles my hair as I get up to my feet. 

And so that’s how I got to be sitting here, finishing an algebra assignment on a Saturday night. It’s a weird feeling. 


	10. The Edge (August 24 & 25)

<Zoe>

It’s a nice sunny day outside as my family drives to church. Everyone is in good spirits today, my parents casually chattering about this or that in front of me. I do not hear a word that they say, however.

Though I am with my family, whom I have known my entire life, I now feel as disconnected from there as if I were a member of some other species. It’s as if nothing they do or say is real. Or maybe it’s that nothing I do or say is real?

“You alright, little sister?” I hear Derrick ask from the seat to my right.

I turn to look at him, giving my best impersonation of a comforting grin. “Yeah, I’m alright!” I tell him. “Just still wiped out from that game.” The football game has indeed been a convenient excuse for my change of behavior.

“Really? Still?” Derick scoffs. “I feel fine, and I was the one out there with the ball!”

I would like to say that he spent most of the game on the bench, but that would be rather rude to bring up now.

My family seems to have mostly chalked my behavior up to having difficulty adjusting to high school. I suppose that is not technically wrong, but it’s only a fraction of the truth…

Only I know about Tuesday, when my friends introduced the idea that my best friend Ashley may be a lesbian. They thought so just because she had been hanging out with someone else who’s a lesbian (or something. I haven’t quite figured out what’s going on with her yet.) I suppose it’s a silly reason to suspect such a thing about someone, but in the end, they were right, weren’t they?

They certainly don’t know about how I felt afterwards. How this idea scared me… but, somewhere deep down, it also excited me, elated me, and that made me even more scared…

How I’ve felt trapped in my own mind, at the mercy of impulses I do not understand. How everything circles around me, like a storm. This strange jubilee… which I fear, but also crave like a drug… and how I also fear the wrath of everyone in my life… but how, despite myself, I still trust Ashley, more than I could ever logically explain… and the doubts… spying, lurking, attacking everything in sight… I’m on the edge of the Earth if there ever was one, and I fear falling off, falling into the fire below… but I also can’t help but hope that, if I take the leap, I will find something which I never could have dreamed existed...

I have to bring my musings to a close when I see that we have come to a stop in the parking lot.

* * *

 

As we walk into the church, I see Terra standing near the entrance way, alone. She’s wearing a white dress with a flower pattern, and her brown hair is pulled into a bun. She grins at me cooly while I walk in through the entrance; it seems as if she was waiting here specifically for me.

“How are you this morning, Zoe?” she asks me, stepping forward.

“I am doing well!” I say, and try my best to mean it. But by the way she’s intently looking at me, I can’t help but to think I’m not fooling her.

“Let’s have a one-on-one chat,” she tells me, still smiling. “It’s about what we discussed earlier.”

Air seems to be caught in my throat- I had been afraid of that. Still, I can not see a way out of this without being rude, so I follow her up the stairs, to where the balcony is.

* * *

 

“The truth is, I’m sorry about how that conversation went,” Terra explains to me. “It was not the kindest way to introduce that idea to you, I know. You know how Diana is; once she gets into gossiping, she can be pretty blunt. I always say that girl is too big of a loudmouth.”

I don’t say anything. Terra is not as tall as Ashley, but she still has a little bit of height on me, and so she looks down at me, with what I think is an attempt at a friendly expression.

“But we told you that for your own good, Zoe. Nothing good comes from hanging around people like that.”

“But you… said that they were only… h-hanging out together,” I stammer. “That doesn’t… I mean, you don’t know if…”

“Ah, but it’s not just that. She seems to have a fondness for physical affection, does she not? I you too hugging on Friday night, before you left… and Yonca tells me that she saw you two hug by the bathroom… don’t worry, I told her not to tell anyone else. I’m not trying to get you into trouble.”

I open my mouth, perhaps to say that it’s not that weird for girls to hug each other if they are friends… but I can’t bring myself to say anything. I feel as if I’m trapped.

“Sin doesn’t just enter our lives through bold, open attacks, you know. More often that not, it creeps in without notice, using the things we love, the things that are familiar, to keep us from God. It can come from friends or loved ones, or in thoughts we have in the sleepiness of the morning…”

I can hear music playing from the sanctuary, which means that service must be about to start. Terra hears it too; I see her looking over her shoulder.

“You’ve got a good heart, Zoe,” she says as she walks back for the stairs. “Don’t let evildoers tear it apart…”

* * *

 

As we had planned before, I go over to Ashley’s house after church. Her mother seems to be out of town, so her dad drove us home. When we get inside, her dad leaves to go practice his trombone, so Ashley leads me down the hallway on the side of the house and straight into her room. 

She shuts the door behind us, and then walks over to the chair by the window and starts rummaging through her backpack. “Been a weird first week, hasn’t it?” she says conversationally.

I feel like a fool for it, but I am crying before I can stop myself.

“Oh, Zoe…” she says, turning around as she hears me. She pulls me over to bed and sits my down, wrapping her arms around me. And I hug her back at once. It’s the only thing that helps. I just let myself cry out onto her chest, releasing everything that’s been inside me this weekend so far… and she starts doing it again, she starts running her fingers through my hair… I just want it to never stop...

After a few minutes, when I’m a bit calmer, she says, “I know that you wanted to ask me about… whether or not we’re doing something wrong. Well, I… really don’t think we are.

I want to believe her so badly… but then I hear a voice in my head…  _ Sin doesn’t just enter our lives through bold, open attacks, you know... It can come from friends or loved ones… _ Is she just trying to lead me astray?

But then, I hear another voice in my head too, from much earlier…  _ You don’t get to choose who you have feelings for… The way you are is not going to change.  _

“How long have you… you know… been… into girls?” I ask her.

“I suppose ever since I could’ve been, ever since I began my adolescence,” she explains to me. “One summer I was re-watching some old movies from my childhood. When I watched the Little Mermaid, I felt the strangest rush when I watched them kissing at the end… then, I realized that I was imagining myself in Eric’s place, not Ariel’s as I should have been…

“And I tried everything in my might to get out of it. I hoped that it was just a phase that would pass… or that my feelings for my friend Aiko were just me being confused about our friendship… then, when that didn’t work, I thought that I could  _ just _ be bisexual. I even wondered if I was actually a straight man in a woman’s body…”

Ashley sighs heavily. “But no, there was no way around it. No amount of researching, or hoping, or praying, ever seemed to make a difference for me.”

I can’t help but to marvel at her for a little bit. I almost never hear her open up like this.

“How long… did you have feelings f-for me, then?” I ask her.

“Pretty much since we first met. Since I first looked into your eyes. Of course, I made myself promise that I wouldn’t ever tell you.” She pauses. “Not unless you told me first.”

Then, suddenly an idea comes to me in a rush…  _ Sin can come from friends or loved ones _ … but that can’t be what this is… she never would have told me she loved me. It was I who came to her first…

I look up at her, into her face. “So… you were this way… before you ever even moved here?” 

“Yeah, for at least a year before,” she explains. “Of course… you may not be wrong to say that I have been since I was born…”

“Why weren’t you going to tell me?” I ask her. I hope she understands that I’m not asking this because I’m angry with her.

“Well, at first, it was because I didn’t want to get hurt,” she admits. “You see, I did tell Aiko that I liked her back in the day, and it didn’t really turn out in my favor… But as time went on, I had an even bigger reason to keep it from you. I didn’t want to pull you into my struggles, to make you suffer as I had.” She gives me an odd smile. “But I suppose we’re in this together after all, are we not? I am sorry, Zoe.”

“So… there’s definitely no way… to change, then?” I ask her timidly.

“That’s definitely been my experience.”

“So… what do we do, then?”

“Try and live with it, somehow or another. Be open and honest with yourself about it. Or, you can try to repress it all… that’s up to you to decide. But I don’t think that repression is the right thing to do.”

I finally feel calm enough to pull away for her, and I look into her eyes curiously. “You don’t... think so?”

“No.” She has an intense, piercing look in her eyes. “After I moved here… after I had hoped and prayed for so long, and nothing changed, I had a crazy thought… one that has kept me alive ever since.

“Since I can’t change myself, maybe, just maybe, there was some reason I am this way. I have no idea what it is, and at the time it seemed to defy everything I thought I knew, but… well, really, now it’s the only thing that seems to make sense. After all… You formed my inward parts, You knitted me together in my mother's womb…”

“Psalm 139,” I say, almost automatically.

She raises her eyebrows at me. “Wow, you knew that off the top of your head… that’s impressive.”

I have to admit that I do feel better after talking to her. I hug her again, this time out of affection instead of desperation.

“Oh Ashley… I never expected any of this to happen,” I confess, “But… I trust you. I really do trust you.”

“What do you mean, you never expected it?” she says, a rare hint of teasing in her voice. “You’re the one who told me you loved me…”

I smile despite myself. I suppose she’s right, what did I expect? Maybe I thought she would kindly rebuff me, or tell me how to get better… but also, maybe I knew all along, deep in my heart, what was going to happen.

* * *

 

The next day…

<Anja>

Ah, Memorial Day. The day in which we remember those who have fallen in war. What’s really important about Memorial Day, however, is that there is no school on that day. 

So on this hot, sunny Memorial Day, I decide to go pay a visit to my Aunt Kierstyn. Though my mother tragically died when I was only seven, I get some comfort in getting to know her sister; it’s almost like I still have a piece of my mom left on this Earth.

Before I head over, I call her cell to let her know beforehand, as she has told me to do. Then, I knock on the door, and she answers after a few seconds.

If you were to take a look at my aunt on the street, you’d probably never guess that she works for the government. She has short hair that’s dyed black, and wears a black leather coat, with matching black leather boots and a belt that is studded with spikes. Definitely a very goth appearance. Or would it be emo…? I don’t know, I can never keep those straight in my brain. (Then again, I can’t ever keep anything straight in my brain. Ha! That’s a good one, I need to remember that.)

“Come on in, Anja,” she says, closing the door behind her and then walking back towards the living room. She has a pretty stoic, detached manner; not too unlike Ashley, now that I think about it.

I consider my own house to be a bit on the messy side, but her house turns it up to another level. On my left I can see a room that is mostly just a bunch of boxes laying on the floor, one of them containing a really old Windows computer. There is also a desk crammed in the corner which has papers strewn across it. Passing by the living room, I see the red couch which I’m pretty sure she usually sleeps on, and the television. The whole house is filthy, and reeks of cigarette smoke; there is dust hanging over everything, and the floor looks like it hasn’t been swept in years.

The dining room table is also strewn with papers. Most of them are just a bunch of legal jargon and news clippings, but there is one that catches my eye: the outline of a map of Texas. There are a bunch of red x’s all over the map with names written next to them. (I see an x slightly north of here that has the name “Roberto Antunez” on it; I wonder if they’re related to Ruth?)

“Oh, you don’t want to look at this stuff,” she says, sighing and shoving a bunch of the paper out of the way so there’s a small part of the table clear. “It is a sad thing. I’ve been asked to keep track of recent teen suicides… for prevention purposes, of course. Depressing shit.”

She takes a seat across from me, and starts to light a cigarette. Seeing the pile of papers on the table reminds of something I was going to ask her…

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“If you want.”

“Do you know about a red and black symbol that looks like an eye?”

For a split second, I swear I see something like fear flit across her face; but it’s gone as soon as I notice it, and she’s casually exhaling a puff of smoke. “Where would you see something like that?” she asks me.

“It was an app on the phone of one of my friends,” I explain. “And I swear I’ve seen it here, on one of your papers.”

“Hmm… you’ve got an eye for trouble, Anja,” she says seriously. For a moment, she looks at me intently; perhaps sizing me up? Then, she reaches into the pile of papers, and pulls out one in particular; a sheet of paper with a drawing of the exact symbol I was just talking about. “Is this what you saw?”

“Yes, that’s it!” I say.

“That’s… very interesting.”

For a while, she just sits there, puffing and staring at the wall, seemingly in deep thought. It’s very tempting to interrupt her, but I stay quiet with the hopes that I’m about to learn what’s so interesting about it. Finally, after what must be several minutes, she starts talking.

“That eye is the symbol of a group that called themselves ‘The Thieves In The Night,’ who operated in the early 1990s. This group used supernatural means to change the hearts of those whom they found corrupt or impure.”

“Supernatural means?” I ask. I’m not a believer in the supernatural, but I have to admit that this sounds quite fascinating… “What does that mean?”

“The Thieves knew how to access a sort of parallel world, known as the Metaverse, which can be used to alter the consciousness of others.”

Whoah. “How do you know all of this?”

She pauses again, and then says, “I used to know someone who was involved with them.”

She sighs heavily, and starts twirling the cigarette in her hand. “Of course, this group has been inactive for a long time. They made a lot of enemies with their actions, and so most of them have been hunted down and killed since then. So, if anyone ever asks, you didn’t hear this from me, okay? It’s extremely dangerous to go around talking about The Thieves.”

“What did they do to get people after them?” I ask, spellbound despite myself.

“Well, when you mess with the social order, it tends to mess back,” she explains. “Of course, even to this day they’re pretty popular among the occult population… your friend’s app was likely created by a fan.”

I consider this for a moment. The occult population? Ashley? I thought she was a Christian. That doesn’t really seem to add up. Could she know something…?

But as fascinating as this topic was, there is a knock on the door, and the impending arrival of pizza drives my musings about the supernatural from my mind. For now, at least...


	11. Lovers (August 26- Part 1)

<Ashley>

Ah, well isn’t this a surprise. I’m in the practice room doing my usual morning practicing, and who should barge in without knocking or any warning but Anja. (You see, I usually do not like to be interrupted while I’m practicing.)

I pretend to not notice her and finish off the second etude to see if she’s going to say anything. Thankfully, she does at least have the decency to let me finish.

“What do you want?” I ask her, as soon as I’m done.

She looks unusually serious, and points at me dramatically. “I know about the Metaverse.”

Whoah. All of the things I thought she would say, that was not one of them.

“What do you mean?” I ask, to see what exactly she thinks she knows.

“The app… on your phone. It’s the symbol of the Thieves In The Night.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I ask, genuinely alarmed at this point.

She falters a bit at this. “Where did you… get that app on your phone?”

I sigh. I thought that she might’ve seen it during lunch last week. I guess she’s been Googling stuff on the internet and found some conspiracy theory or something.

“Well, I can’t seem to get rid of it, can I?” I explain casually. “It’s almost like a virus.”

She looks visibly disappointed. “What happens when you click on it?”

I sit there for a moment, weighing my options. I could probably talk my way out of this and deny that the Metaverse even exists. But knowing Anja, she probably wouldn’t give up there. If she was curious enough about a random app on my phone she saw for a few seconds during lunch one day to do some sort of research on it by herself, maybe I should just drop pretense now.

After all, Lucy did say to bring others into the Metaverse. I guess it might as well be Anja.

I pull out my phone. “Well, how about we find out together?” I press the app.

* * *

 

When the world comes back into focus again, I’m surprised to see that we are in the middle of what appears to be a dense jungle. It’s bizarre, but I’m not going to complain; it’s better than the red and purple nightmare it was last time.

As I was hoping, the look on Anja’s face is priceless.

“So Anja,” I begin, “Why don’t you tell me everything you know about this place, and where you learned it?”

She’s taken to looking around nervously at the trees, as if she’s expecting something to attack us at any moment. She’s also trembling a bit.

“Well, uh… an anonymous source told me that… there’s this place called the ‘Metaverse,’ where you can go under… certain circumstances. And you can use it to change the hearts of evil people… and reform society.”

Mm. Well, it looks like she’s got the gist.

“I don’t like this place,” she continues. “Also, why are you dressed like some sort of knight?”

“Because I am one,” I reply, trying to seem as impressive as possible.

“You’ve… been here before, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, once. It didn’t look like this that time, though… it was all dark and veiny… it didn’t look like any place on Earth.”

“You’ve only been here once?” she asks. Her trembling stops, and now she looks annoyed at me for some reason that I can not possibly fathom.

“Yeah, last week.”

“You mean… you’ve had this power for over a week, and you haven’t been using it?”

“I’ve been busy!” I snarl at her. I really did not ask for a critique of my lifestyle.

“I’ve been watching you and Zoe make googly eyes at each other for a week and a half, when we could’ve been changing the world!” she nags angrily.

“That… is a gross oversimplification of what has been happening.”

“Why, though? Don’t give me that crap about being busy, you were too scared, weren’t you?”

“Excuse me?” I take a step towards her threateningly. “You’re the one who’s being all jittery.”

(I admit that I’m deflecting. Honestly, I was a bit scared of coming back here… I mean, after what I went through the first time… you would be too. Don’t judge me.)

“This place isn’t right,” she says, going back to looking around at the trees. “Don’t you just feel like… someone is watching you?”

I turn away from her and look around a little more closely myself. This place vaguely reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of the Amazon rainforest. The foliage is so thick that I can’t see five feet in front of me. I suppose that this would give shadows a prime opportunity to hide, and strike when we least expect it…

I draw my sword and begin circling around the area we’re in. No sign of anything yet…

“Why do you think… it looks different this time than the last time you tried it?” she asks me from behind.

“I have no clue,” I tell her honestly. “Maybe Ted will know.”

“Who’s Ted?”

“A talking armadillo. I can’t wait to introduce you two. You’ll get along famously, I just know it.”

“You’re… pulling my leg.”

I turn around and look straight at her. She indeed has an incredulous expression, so I shake my head no.

“That’s not all, though,” I explain. “If Ted can’t tell me something, I can ask Lucy, a talking book.”

“A talking book?” she gasps suddenly. “You mean like Tom Riddle’s diary?”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought of too,” I admit.

Now she’s looking at me with a hint of her usual smugness back. “Huh. I never took you for a Harry Potter fan.”

And that’s how much warning I get when several vines shoot out of the foliage, lasso one of her legs, and drag her off screaming.

* * *

 

<Anja>

And so there I was, being dragged through the jungle by a force I could not see, terrified for my life, my head bumping into trees and my face being scratched by branches and leaves.

Eventually, it drags me to a clearing, far away from where I was just talking to Ashley. I see my assailant; a bunch of disembodied vines, which are now shooting out of the surrounding jungle from every direction and tying my arms and legs, leaving me feeling extremely vulnerable and viscerally uncomfortable. It was then that I heard a hissing voice from every direction at once, that bizarrely sounded slightly familiar:

“Go ahead… try and fight back… but you won’t be able to free yourself… the small ones never can…”

“I am definitely NOT okay with any of this!” I scream back at it. “Let me go, let me go…” I struggle against the vines as hard as I can, but they’re gripping me too hard… I can barely even move… Terror, like none I have ever known before, grips me, as it dawns on me how totally and utterly trapped I am…

* * *

 

[Across from me is a man… an absolutely gorgeous man, with flowing blonde hair, naked except for a sort of curtain blocking his midriff, and, most interestingly, a bed of daffodils growing out of the top of his head.]

[“So,” he says, “you believe that it is your time… to choose what is right, rather than what the ease of your own self-absorption. You think you are prepared to change the world? To walk the path of true progress?”]

[“Hell yeah I am!” I reply. “But… uh… first, you’re going to need to help me with something…”]

[He grins at me. “Do not be worried… we will form a pact. If you are ready to accept the responsibility that has been thrust upon you, I will be your guide.”]

[“Hook me the fuck up, I’m in!”]

* * *

 

Though I am in the grasp of the vines, my body begins trembling, moving so forcefully that I can not be held still. As if following instructions I had agreed on long ago, I reach up to my face, where a white mask had formed, and I rip it straight off. For a moment, the pain is so intense that I can not help but to scream… but then, I am engulfed in blue flames, which burn away all of the vines; I can feel the relief of my limbs being set free. When the fire is gone, I am wearing a curious outfit; a red dress, covered on the back by a thick fur coat, and a tight necklace of small pearls around my neck. In my hands is some kind of gun with a long muzzle and a huge handle right past the trigger.

I see the vines moving back towards me to ensnare me again, but I act instinctively and open fire in every direction at once; I am pleased to find out that my weapon fires automatically, and so I let loose a spray of bullets, until the vines retreat back into the undergrowth.

“Yeah! That serves you right, motherfucker!” I shout triumphantly. “That’ll teach you to fuck with me, or anyone else, ever again!”

* * *

 

<Ashley>

Eventually, I am able to follow the sounds of Anja’s screaming and the fire of a submachine gun to another small clearing. Nobody but Anja is around, and thankfully she seems unhurt, though she is screaming her head off like a lunatic. I notice that she’s now dressed up and holding a Thompson, and so I make an inference as to what happened.

“Well well, look who awakened her Persona,” I say as I approach her.

She jumps back about a yard in shock and points her gun at me; apparently, she had not noticed me until then. However, after a few seconds she calms down and drops it. “Whew… sorry Ashley, you spooked me,” she adds unnecessarily.

“Let's get out of here,” I say quickly, expecting the vines to attack us again at any moment. She nods frantically in agreement, and I take my phone back out and press the app.

* * *

 

I am fully expecting, based on my previous experience, to appear in some random part of the school; but thankfully we turn up right back in the practice room.

Anja looks as pale as a ghost, and as soon as we get our bearings back, she sits down on a chair in the room, breathing deeply.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“I don’t know…” she says. “That was… pretty fucked up.”

“You should come over to my place after school today. I was going to explain everything to you in the Metaverse, but… well, for whatever reason, it doesn’t seem safe to enter it here.”

She just nods silently, her eyes still wide with fear.

* * *

 

<Anja>

It turns out, Ashley actually doesn’t live too far away from me. She’s close enough to where I can ride my bike to her place after school. Who knew?

Ashley’s house is a reasonably modest one-story, not any bigger than mine. There’s a huge oak tree in the front, must be 50 feet tall. As well as a… John Cornyn campaign sign? Oh dear, oh dear… that does explain a lot.

Anyways, without further ado, I knock on the front door, and after about thirty seconds, a woman whom I can only assume is Ashley’s mom answers the door. She looks so similar to Ashley, it’s almost comical. They both have the long red hair, green eyes, and slender build while still having a chest… ugh, I’m so jealous. (What? Don’t look at me like that.) Anyways, apart from resembling Ashley, I can’t shake the feeling that I know her from somewhere else too…

“Hello, you must be Anja,” she says to me. She looks like she hasn’t been getting a lot of sleep recently. “Come on in.”

I step into the front hall. “Thank you very much, Ms… Davis? Is that it?”

She chuckles at me. “Well, technically I’m still Ms. Cooper. I didn’t change my last name when we got married. Still, Zoe’s been calling me Ms. Davis for years anyway. I just don’t have the heart to correct her, she’s so sweet.”

I look around the house to see if Ashley is around, but she doesn’t seem to be. What’s she up to?

“You may be the first kid other than Zoe to step into this house since we moved here,” Ashley’s mom continues, looking at me carefully as though scanning me. “Those two have quite a special friendship, do they?”

“Oh, um… yeah, I guess so,” I say. I remember that Ashley said their romance was to be kept a secret, so I don’t dare say anything more.

“Anyways, Ashley should be around here somewhere,” her mom explains. “Although I don’t know what she’s doing... She’s usually already waiting at the door whenever Zoe gets here.” (Which is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard!)

Ashley’s mom takes off down a hallway to the right of the front door, and I follow behind her.

We pass a couple of other doors and arrive at the one at the opposite end of the hall, on which she knocks sharply. “Hey Ash, your friend is here,” she calls. (Hmm, her mom calls her that too. Interesting.)

There is no response. After a few seconds, Ashley’s mom rolls her eyes and just enters into the room anyway.

Ashley is sitting on her bed, wearing a large pair of headphones. It seems as if she heard her mom enter the room, as she is now stopping old-fashioned record player that’s sitting on the bed next to her.

“Make sure you put that back before your father gets home,” her mom comments. “You know how particular he is about his stuff.” And with that, she is gone, leaving just Ashley and I.

Ashley’s room is remarkably organized. It’s fairly large, with a desk which her backpack is currently sitting on top of. Between there and the closet is a Manhasset music stand with has stacks of papers on it, and her french horn sits in its case next to it.

Ashley doesn’t say anything at first, just reaches over to her night stand and starts digging around in it. She pulls out a tattered old journal, which has a pretty pink gem right in the center. She gestures me over to the bed, which I sit down upon, and then hands me the journal. “Read it,” she says.

And so I open the cover and read what’s inside, and it says… Well, quite a lot.

After I finish reading, I just sit there dumbfounded for a few seconds. I have so many questions that I have no clue where to begin.

“Done reading?” Ashley asks me. I nod, and she takes the book back from me. Before I can say anything else, though, she gets her phone out and presses the app again.

* * *

 

For a moment, I’m afraid that we’re going to end up back in the hellish jungle, but instead, we end up in a replica of the room we are just sitting in, except darker and with red and purple veins on everything. While not aesthetically pleasing, I am relieved that we are at least somewhere more secure.

“Is that what this place is _supposed_ to look like?” I ask her.

She nods. “It must have done that specifically because we were at the school.”

And then, when she doesn’t say anything, I say, “So… that’s a lot to take in.”

She nods. “I know it is. Now you know why I spent a week mulling this over instead of rushing in.”

“So, uh… what exactly are shadows?”

“Well, that’s actually a pretty good question. I met some the first time I was here who appeared like blood red coyotes, but they might appear in other forms too.”

“What did these coyotes do?”

Ashley gives me a weird grin. “Almost killed me. Until my life was saved by Ted the armadillo.”

“But wait… is this Ted a shadow too?”

She shrugs. “He says he isn’t. Now, I have a question for you.”

She looks at me intently, like she can see straight past my eyes into my soul. “You seem like you’re in a big hurry to jump into the Metaverse and change the world. What’s driving you to do all of this?”


	12. Snakes (August 26- Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit 11/22/2019: I misspelled Anja's last name. It has now been fixed.

<Anja>

_ What’s driving you to do all of this...  _ Well, she just asked me a big question, didn’t she? I mean, it’s not like there’s just one reason. Of course, there is one thing which, perhaps, was the last straw…

“Well… what do you about Justice Pavia?”

“I know that he is the local Justice of the Peace, and that he’s running for re-election this year. That’s about it.”

Suddenly, she looks at me sternly. “Look, Anja. You read what Lucy wrote; this is only for the most evil people imaginable. This better not be about some petty political disagreement that you have.”

“It’s not!” I insist. “It has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with the fact that this man is about to force him and his little sister to live with his abusive and ableist mother!”

She furrows her eyebrows. “Abusive and  _ what? _ ”

“Ableist,” I reiterate. 

“And am I supposed to know what that means?”

“It refers to someone who’s bigoted against someone for their disability,” I explain. “Nova has Asperger’s.”

“But then, it sounds like we should be after Nova’s mom. What does the Justice have to do with this?”

“He’s the one who’s overseeing the custody battle. And I thought about targeting Nova’s mom, but… well, if someone’s parents don’t love them, I doubt that even something like this would help with that.”

Ashley stops, and just sits silently for a while, staring into space; she seems to be deep in thought.

“Okay, Anja, let’s say for a moment that this dude really is terrible, and definitely someone who’s worth the time it takes to do something like this. Before we do anything, we’re going to need to talk to Nova about this. This process only works if someone is with us who was directly affected the person we’re going after.”

“Well, let’s go get him then!” I say, jumping up to my feet.

“Hold the fuck up. I really do think we should  _ talk  _ to him about this first, tomorrow during lunch.”

“Why wait until then?” I chide at her, annoyed at her insistence on delaying the process. 

“Because, this is dangerous shit we’re dealing with!” she growls at me. She also gets to her feet, and glares straight down at me. I have to admit, the effect is very intimidating. 

“You don’t understand what’s going on here. I really don’t understand much of it myself. But what I do know is that there are _powers_ _at play here that are unlike anything you have ever tried to comprehend_.”

“Jeez, okay, drama queen,” I say, taking a few steps back from her.

She takes her phone and takes us back to her room.

* * *

 

As soon as we’re back, she begins striding past me towards her door.

“Hey, wait a sec!” I call after her. “What are we doing?”

“While you’re here, there’s someone I want to introduce you to,” she says, opening the door. 

And so I hurriedly follow her back down the hallway, and then past the dining room table and into the kitchen, where she opens the freezer door. However, all she does is just look inside of it and sigh heavily.

“What, you want to introduce me to someone who lives in your freezer?” I ask.

“I was going to offer you a popsicle, but… looks like my mom finished those off already.” She closes the freezer door.

“How do you know it wasn’t your dad?”

“Because my dad actually has self-control,” she says. “Also, he’s not home right now.”

“Where is your mom, anyway?” I ask, looking around the house, where the living room is empty.

“Probably taking a nap. She played in a musical up in Dallas last weekend, and it totally destroyed her sleep schedule.”

“Surely she can’t be tired if she just ate sugar?”

“My mom actually does get tired when she eats sugar… just one of her many quirks.”

“Do you think she has some sort of medical condition?”

She shoots me a scathing look. “Do you have a medical condition which makes you ask 10,000 questions per second?”

“I’m a curious person!” I reply indignantly. 

She rolls her eyes at me, and then makes for the front door. 

(Seriously though, I didn’t think it was that offensive of a question. She’s being totally ridiculous. You guys agree with me, right?)

* * *

 

Ashley marches me down to the end of her street, where across the road perpendicular to hers, there is a church. The area is surrounded mostly by trees and is decently far away from any houses. The thin driveway eventually hits a fork, where a large, glorious stone sign says  _ First Methodist Church _ . The sign is surrounded by a bed of flowers. The left fork leads to a currently empty parking lot, and the right fork, which is the one that Ashley takes, leads to the church itself, which appears old and humble.

Ashley walks past the building and to a few shoddy wooden picnic tables that are down the hill. Everything behind the tables is forest. 

“Wait here,” she tells me. So, I sit down at the table. Ashley takes off into the forest. However, it is not long before she returns, holding an armadillo out in front of her, which she sets down on the table.

“Ooh, this is your talking armadillo friend?” I ask. “Hi little fella!”

“Howdy ma’am,” the armadillo says, in a gruff, deep voice with a southern accent. “I must ask that you not patronize me.”

But I can’t help but burst into laughter right there. I’m sorry, this is just the silliest thing I’ve ever seen. The blatant Texas-ness of this is just beautiful. 

“Just a warning, Anja,” Ashley explains, “he did used to be a human, which means that he has human intelligence.”

“You should heed the advice of your older sister,” Ted says.

This, however, makes me bristle with anger. “ _ Older sister? _ I’M OLDER THAN HER! BY A YEAR! Actually, weren’t you born in May? I think I’m older than you by a year and a half!”

“Calm your tits, Anja,” Ashley says. “Do you want the whole neighborhood to hear us?”

“The Lovers, are you not?” Ted asks me, looking at me intently with his little armadillo face. “You’re certainly no longer Temperance.”

I look at Ashley for help, but she just shrugs back at me. “Anyways, you might want to treat Ted with some respect. He’s the one who saved me from the coyotes, and so he’ll be the one who’ll be teaching us to use our Personas.”

“Right. My apologies, Armadillo-sensei.”

Ashley glares at me for this, but honestly, it’s worth it.

“Well,” she says, “since you’re the one who’s in a  _ big fuckin’ hurry, _ why don’t we have a practice round, right now?”

“Right now?” I ask, taken aback. “I mean, sure, but isn’t it getting kind of late in the day?”

“We have all the time in the world,” Ashley explains. “Time doesn’t pass when we’re in the Metaverse. Why do you think nobody noticed us missing from the practice room this morning?”

“Alright then. Let’s get down and dirty!”

Ashley rolls her eyes at me again before taking us into the Metaverse once again. 

* * *

 

This is my first time entering the Metaverse outside of a building, and for a moment I have to simply stand in awe of the scenery. Because I am doing so, I miss the conversation that Ashley and Ted (who is now standing on his legs and wearing a cowboy hat) have nearby, and by the time I look back at them for the plan they’re already heading back towards the street.

“Hey, slow the fuck down, Micro Mike!” I call after them, as I hurry to catch up once again. “What’re we doing?”

“Well, if you had been paying attention,” Ashley begins, “you would know that the shadows should be out and about by now, and as Lucy pointed out, they should make for good fodder for grinding.”

“Do you think they’ll all be coyotes, like the ones you saw?” I ask.

“Shadows can appear in many different forms,” Ted explains. “However, we can expect them to imitate species that are native to this region of the land.”

“We better not run into any fucking giant wasps, then,” I say. At that moment, I notice that the bed of flowers by the sign has turned into an array of exotic-looking mushrooms. 

“No time to stop and smell the roses, little sis,” Ashley says from behind me.

Grr. She’s never gonna let go of that, is she?

“And why not?” I question. “I thought you said we had all the time in the world?”

“Because, we have trouble!”

I whirl around, and see Ashley and Ted getting into battle stances; Ashley drawing her sword, and Ted drawing a little revolver. In front of them, are two enormous snakes, with patterns of alternating yellow and light blue, making them stick out from the scenery quite a bit.

“Alright, time to do it to it!” I shout, as I dash up next to them, drawing my own weapon.

It is then that I see them: the Personas of the other two. Ashley’s is some kind of angel, and Ted’s is this funky looking robotic guy with a harp strapped to his back.

Anyways, I waste no time in opening fire on our serpentine opponents. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work quite as well as it did with the vines, since the snakes seem to at least be smart enough to dodge the majority of the bullets.

“I think we should go for a more direct approach,” Ashley says, as she throws caution to the wind and charges at one of them. 

Provoked, the other one charges straight for me, and I’m momently at a loss for what to do; my weapon is a ranged one! 

Thankfully, it only gets halfway there before a huge blast of fire knocks it aside; I see Ted to my left with his hand outstretched.

“Stay on your toes, Anja!” he barks at me. “Use your magic!”

“How?” I shout back at him.

“Let your Persona guide you!” 

And then, without really thinking about it, I raise my hand in front of me and snap my fingers. I am pleased, though honestly not entirely surprised, to see a huge flash of light split the air in front of me, leaving the snake clearly disoriented. I take advantage of this moment of weakness to rush towards it and smack it with my gun.

However, it doesn’t take the snake long to recover, and it begins wrapping itself around me…

From several yards away, I can see Ashley standing off against the other snake. She catches my eye, and then reaches towards me and casts some sort of spell that significantly slows down my snake’s movement, allowing me to wrestle free. However, helping me came at a cost; the snake she was facing lurched forward and sunk its teeth right into her shoulder…

I finish off the snake in front of me by grabbing its head and letting loose with automatic fire right into its mouth: the bullets form several clear holes all around its head and neck, which ooze blood that looks like black tar… then, the snake goes still, and dissipates into a sort of shadowy substance. Then, it fades into the air, as if it had never existed to begin with.

I immediately take off for where Ashley was. I watch Ted stun the remaining snake with a well-aimed shot, allowing Ashley to finish it off with a wild strike that cuts it clean in two. The force of the swing, however, caused her to fall over backwards onto the ground. 

“Are you okay?” I ask her stupidly, as I huddle over her. She must be in a ton of pain; the snake’s bite somehow melted through the armor and left two huge gashes on her shoulder. However, the only sign of pain that she’s showing is a grimace that’s barely more expressive than the look she gives me when I make a bad joke.

“What the hell… are those fangs made of?” she says hoarsely. “Cut through my armor like… tissue paper.”

Once again, without really thinking about it, I lift my hand to her shoulder, which begins glowing brightly. When I pull it away, the wound is inexplicably healed. Ashley gives me a strange look, like she’s just now noticed that I exist.

“That venom must have special properties that pierce defenses,” Ted says from behind me.

“Well, what the hell is the point of having armor if it doesn’t fucking work?” Ashley spits, as she gets to her feet. (You know, I would’ve appreciated a thank you for healing her.) “Well, at any rate, I suppose that was an improvement over my first attempt at fighting something.”

“That was the weirdest feeling ever!” I shout excitedly. “It was like, I’ve known how to do magic my whole life and only just now decided to use it… It’s like I’m one of the X-men!”

“If I hear one more pop culture reference out of you…” Ashley begins, but she doesn’t seem able to finish her sentence, instead beginning to pant like she just ran a mile. 

“Now that you are aware of the powers of your Personas, you can hone your skills for greater effect,” Ted explains to us. 

I turn around and look at him. He’s continuously twirling his pistol in his hand, evidently under the impression that it makes him look badass. “Man, if that was level one, I can’t wait to see what greater powers are contained in this… uh… floating naked guy.”

“Well, I’m going to put it a request that we call it a day,” Ashley interjects, still sounding out of breath. “If it hadn’t been for your magic hands, I would’ve been done for…”

“Well, you’re the one with the phone,” I comment. 

“Before I press the button, we should go back to where we entered… otherwise, it will look like we essentially teleported across the lawn.”

“Wait, really?” I ask. “Back at the school, we were instantly put back where we came in.”

“Well, that was different,” Ashley says. 

“The Metaverse was different when you entered it at school?” Ted asks sharply. 

“Yeah, it didn’t look like this at all, it was like the middle of a jungle,” I explain. “And then I got grabbed by a bunch of vines, and was probably on the verge of being tentacle raped when my Persona came to my rescue.”

Ashley shakes her head at me. “Jesus, Anja.”

“I’m being dead serious!” I assert. “I’m not even joking! That whole thing was creepy as fuck!”

“Hmm… that is disturbing,” Ted comments. “Very disturbing indeed…”

For some dumb reason, the way he says this reminds me of Yoda, but I refrain from mentioning this in fear of incensing Ashley further.

“Well, it sounds like we probably don’t want to enter here at the school from here on out,” Ashley states. “Which is a major inconvenience, given that’s the only place where we regularly gather.”

“So, what’s the plan then?” I ask. “Make this place the base of our operations?”

“I think that would be easiest,” Ashley agrees. “Otherwise, I’d have to smuggle this one-” she gestures at Ted- “in my backpack to wherever we do meet.” 

“That sounds kind of fun, though,” I comment, as we make our way back for the tables. “It’d be like having a pet come with you everywhere you go. You could talk to him when you feel lonely during school… use him to help you study… he could make you go to bed on time every night…”

“I don’t need help going to bed on time,” Ashley says bluntly. 

And that was pretty much what has to be the weirdest day of my entire life. I’ve done some pretty strange stuff in my time, but this has to be, like, number two or three on that list.

Anyways, that was another chapter narrated by Anja Buelen. Stay tuned for next where there will be… uh… either more fighting with overly large Texan wildlife, or more gay angst. Or both. We’ll see.


	13. The Plot (August 27)

<Zoe>

Ever since the talk that Ashley and I had on Sunday, I admit that I have been in a much better mood. I’m not entirely sure if I should be, given that we are doing something that, by all accounts, seems extremely risky… But somehow, the knowledge that she is still there for me, and that we are officially together, no longer needing to filter ourselves, is very comforting. It’s like a warm bubble that I carry around with me in my heart… one that helps keep me going through all of my fears and anxieties… all of those are still there, lurking in the background, but…

“Hey Zoe! Can I ask you something?”

I jolt unconsciously. I had been so lost in thought as I made my way to band rehearsal that I had stopped paying attention to my surroundings.

I turn around, and see who it is who’s speaking to me; Mason Wallace. Mason is the best trombone player in our year, and one of the few freshmen to make Symphonic Band along with Ashley and I. I’m surprised that he’s talking to me, we do not have any particular relationship. He looks nervous about something; what’s going on?

“Hey… um…” he begins in a stutter. “How’d you like to go to Homecoming with me?”

I immediately am forced to process a complex web of different emotions. 

  * The Homecoming Dance is not for another month. Asking me now is a very odd move, given that the Dance is not yet on the forefront of the collective consciousness of the school.
  * No, no I don’t want to go with him. Like I said before, I do not have any particular friendship or anything with him, and in fact he can sometimes be kind of annoying. 
  * In addition, given that I am secretly in a relationship with Ashley, going to the Dance with anyone at all could be seen as a dishonest move by her. Especially if that someone was the boy which she has a notorious rivalry with.
  * Still, though, it’s not as if I can just tell him any of this. How should I explain my answer? I need to think of some excuse, quickly now…
  * Everyone is staring at both of us right now and I’m extremely embarrassed. 
  * I have to use the restroom.



“Oh… welll… um… I, uh… I’malreadygoingwithsomeone.”

Why did I say that? That’s a bad lie. As I previously mentioned, the dance is a month off. Who else would have already asked me?

Mason looks annoyed for a second, but then he recovers and looks at me curiously. “Oh really? Who is it?”

Uh-oh. He’s going to call my bluff. 

“I, um, It’s a secret,” I say stupidly, that being all I can think of.

“It’s okay you can tell me,” Mason says slyly, moving slightly closer. “Are you hiding something?”

But then, I hear a different voice from down the hall, speaking softly, but scathing and clearly discernible: “She already said no, dipshit. Don’t you take a hint?”

I turn and am flooded with relief to see Ashley coming towards us. The students around us begin chattering at her appearance, but she pays no attention, and looks (as usual) as if she’s bored with the proceedings.

When Mason sees her, his expression turns into a sneer. “I’m allowed to ask someone a question, am I? Or is there a new royal proclamation against that?”

“You’re acting like an entitled little bitch, and you’re heckling her,” Ashley comments bluntly. Mason goes a bit red in the face, but doesn’t seem to be able to think of a comeback. Ashley lightly puts her hand on my shoulder and leads me away to the band hall.

I feel incredibly grateful for her. One of the things that I truly love about Ashley is that she’s just the kind of person who can get me out of awkward situations like that. 

Still, there is one thing that troubles me. I can’t turn around and go to the restroom now, as that would make things even more awkward. So, I’m going to have to hold it throughout the whole period again.

* * *

 

Sitting down for lunch, it feels remarkably as though I have just sat down during the middle of a police ambush. Ashley and Anja both look unusually serious. Well, to be more accurate, Anja looks unusually serious, and Ashley looks the same as usual. 

“Hi guys,” I say timidly, afraid of breaking the mood. “What’s up?”

“You’ll find out in a minute,” Ashley explains.

“You’re okay with letting her in on this?” Anja asks her, looking at me cautiously.

“We can trust her,” Ashley assures her.

I don’t have a clue what they are talking about. Maybe they’re talking about Ashley and I’s relationship? Somehow, I don’t think so. The way they’re wording it doesn’t make it sound like that.

When Nova comes over to the table, Ashley begins before he even has a chance to sit down.

“Nova. Before you pull out your DS, we need to discuss something important.”

“It’s a 3DS,” Nova replies, looking annoyed with her.

“Whatever,” Ashley says back. “Anja, do you want to do the honors?”

Anja looks down at the table solemnly. “Well… I’ve been talking with Ashley, and I think we’ve found a way to... fight back.”

“Fight back against what?”

“Against Pavia,” Anja explains.

I gasp. “You mean the Justice of the Peace?”

“Yeah, allegedly,” Ashley says.

Nova glares at her. “Did you… what did you tell her?”

“I know the basics,” Ashley interjects quickly. “But I wanted to hear most of it from you. I need an idea of how serious the situation is.”

“And why should I tell _you_ anything?” Nova protests, shooting a betrayed look at Anja.

“Nova, you have to trust me,” Anja tells him, speaking as gingerly as she did when we talked in the practice room last week. “I wouldn’t have done what I did… except I really think we have a fighting chance here. We can change his heart.”

Change his heart? It’s really unclear what their plan is at this point. Perhaps they are going to send the Justice a strongly worded letter?

Nova looks despondent. He’s now just staring off into space, drumming his fingers on the table subconsciously. Something about the look in his eyes looks familiar to me… I’m not sure what moves me to do it, but I start talking.

“I know that we don’t know each other very well,” I begin, “but you can tell us whatever is going on with you. If there’s any way we can help... we will.”

For a moment, he doesn’t react to what I said in any way. However, after a few seconds, he begins talking.

* * *

 

“So, let me get this straight,” Ashley says after Nova is done explaining. “Pavia’s going to give custody of you and your sister back to your mom, because… why?”

“Because he’s a prick!” Nova spits, his face contorted with fury over the tale he just recounted. This whole time his eyes have been seemingly fixed down on the table, away from everyone’s.

“Ah. Well, thank you Nova, that clears up everything.”

“He must have _some_ sort of legal argument,” Anja cuts in. “Didn’t you say something to me earlier about him not liking your dad?”

“He thinks that my mom would be a better caretaker because she _has more money,_ ” Nova explains, sneering while saying those words. “My dad works _two jobs_ to care for us and pay for our shitty apartment.”

I gasp subconsciously. I always thought that this town was a fairly wealthy one, so it never occurred to me that there were people here who struggled just to get by. Nova finally looks up from the table and momentarily makes eye contact with me, giving me an odd, blank look.

“It sounds like he might _think_ he’s doing the right thing, then,” Ashley comments, almost more to herself than to anyone else.

Nova shook his head, his eyes returning downward. “We’ve told him about the way my mom acts; how she throws things at people when she gets back and insults us. My dad’s talked about it, I’ve talked about it, even Kat has come in to talk about it; but he believes my mom over all of us.”

Ashley looks deep in thought; it’s like she’s trying to solve a complicated math problem in her head.

“Well, we can’t talk about it much in here, because it’s top secret,” Anja explains, “but Ashley and I might just know a way to help you out of this.”

“Top secret?” I ask, perplexed. “You guys aren’t going to do something illegal, are you?”

“Hmm… actually, that’s a good point,” Anja admits, frowning. “Is this even technically legal?” Which is an answer I don’t find reassuring in the slightest. 

“There’s no way the legal system would account for something like this,” Ashley reasons. “We just can’t talk about it at school because it’s kinda… out there.”

“Oh, you can say that again!” Anja agrees passionately.

At this point, I am very confused and also slightly concerned. I can’t think of anything that would warrant this kind of secrecy that they might do. _We can change his heart…_ Change it how?

Nova doesn’t seem to be following the conversation; he’s just gone back to drumming his fingers on the table agitatedly.

After a few seconds of this, Ashley snaps, “Nova, would you cut that out?”

“Cut what out?” Nova replies, not looking at her.

“Well, you should explain what’s going on to Zoe too,” Anja comments absentmindedly, apparently oblivious to the exchange that just took place. “Now that she’s overheard our little talk, she’s in on all of this.”

“Yes, I realize that,” Ashley replies, looking at me. “I’ll fill you in on what’s going on whenever we get a chance to talk privately. But until then, just try and put it out of your mind.”

She must be able to tell how nervous I am about all of this. But how can I just put something like this out of my mind?

* * *

 

Apparently, I can’t at all, because it nags me throughout the entirety of World Geography. By the time I’m on my way to Biology, I’ve given up on trying to follow Ashley’s advice and am wildly speculating what the others are planning. 

Ashley didn’t say it was _legal_ , she said that _there’s no way the legal system would account for something like this…_ what on earth could that be referring to? It sounds like something that has never been attempted before, or isn’t widely known about. Which means my chances of guessing what it is are pretty much zero. But that doesn’t stop me from trying. Maybe they’re going to do some sort of computer hacking job? I could see Ashley being smart enough to figure out something like that. Or maybe Anja knows some type of voodoo technique that can brainwash people? Oh goodness, I really hope it’s not that…

For the second time today, I’m so preoccupied with my private thoughts that I walk straight into an awkward situation. When I sit down at my table in Biology, Terra is smiling cooly and looking straight at me. Before I can begin mentally preparing myself for a conversation, she says “Hello Zoe. I wanted to check if you had any further thoughts on what we talked about before church.”

I sense that there’s something funny going on here, but I don’t have time to think about it. I instinctively look over at the others. Diana looks angry about something, and Yonca looks nervous. Neither of them seem to want to meet my eye. I wonder what they know about Terra’s suspicions. 

“Oh. Well, uh…” To buy myself time to think, I lean over to ruffle through my backpack.

“I want to make sure you know that you can talk to me,” Terra says in what’s clearly supposed to be a soft, motherly voice. “If you’re being coerced, or… peer pressured, you can let me know.”

I guess there’s nothing to do except to tell the truth. Well, a part of it, anyway.

“Um… thanks, but no. I’m not being… pressured into anything.”

“Hmm. I see.” Terra replies, looking closely at me. 

“If you’re… talking about Ashley, she would never… um, lead me onto any path that’s bad. Er, knowingly.” 

“Are you sure?” Terra presses me. “Not even in a moment of weakness?”

“Uh… what?” I ask, not sure what she means.

“And what about that other girl?” Terra continues on. “Angie, I think her name was?”

“Her? Oh, uh, they’re just friends.”

The forced smile finally drops from Terra’s face. “That’s not what I meant. Although, that raises an interesting question: Why are they friends, anyway? What do they have in common?”

“Well, they’re both in band.”

“Yeah. I know that, thanks,” Terra says, clearly starting to get annoyed with me. “I mean, what do they talk about?”

I think back to all of the previous lunch periods we’ve had. “Um… Politics.”

“Politics,” Terra repeats flatly.

“Yeah, economics and stuff. You know like, how to get the… of course, it’s kind of over my head, it’s very…”

Terra is giving me an incredulous look, so I decide to drop the pretense. “Okay, look, they don’t have that much in common, but… Well, you know Anja’s not the most popular person around, so Ashley… is friends with her because she’s nice like that.”

I hear laughter to my side, and I turn to see that it’s Diana, who seems to be no longer able to resist joining in the conversation. “Because _she’s nice like that._ Are you kidding me? She may be nice to _you_ , but, newsflash: she treats everyone else like garbage!”

“She’s right, Zoe; why the special treatment?” Terra asks me. “Are you sure you know her as well as you think you do?”

Thankfully, at this point I am once again saved by the beginning of class. I really wish that I hadn’t been so early to class today, as it resulted in my suffering being far more prolonged. 

I have to admit, though, I have no clue how I would’ve responded to that last point. I always knew that Ashley can come off as a bit abrasive… why is she so nice to me? 

Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? She told me that she’s had a crush on me since we first met. And, looking back, it does seem like she’s never wanted much to do with my other friends. Back in early seventh grade when we were first becoming friends, she wouldn’t come up and talk to me unless I was by myself. I always assumed that she was being shy, but I guess she’s not quite the type for that. Was she jealous of them? Did she know something about them that I didn’t?

And then, there was the last thing she said… _Are you sure you know her as well as you think you do?_

Of course I know her. We’ve always had such a special connection… But then, I remember that there is at least one thing I don’t know about her: I still have no clue what they were talking about doing during lunch… which gets me stuck back onto that train of thought. 

As a result, I once again walk out of the classroom having done very little learning. Between everything that’s been on my mind recently, it’ll be a miracle if I can pull good scores this grading period. 

* * *

 

When I get to the band hall for jazz band, I almost walk straight into Ashley, who is closely examining a piece of paper that was taped to the wall near the door. She’s looking at it with a smug, satisfied expression.

“Results for our first chair test,” she explains, seeing my confused expression. “Surprise, you got first chair.”

I giggle weakly; of course, the joke is that I’m the only bassoon player. I briefly look at the sheet myself, and see that Ashley managed to get first in the horn section.

“Good job!” I tell her. 

“Eh, it didn’t take much,” she replies casually, although I know her well enough to tell that she likes the attention. “Alright, we better get ready for rehearsal.”

“Wait!” I say. “What about…”

I don’t say anything else, but Ashley seems to already know what I’m thinking. “We’ll talk about it soon, I promise,” she assures me. “I would say this afternoon, if it weren’t for my lesson with Sarah…”

“It’s… not anything bad, is it?” I ask, not able to help myself.

“Well… I wouldn’t do anything _immoral_ , if that’s what you mean. Of course, the situation is bad for Nova…”

However, at that point, we are interrupted by someone else walking through the doors; a tall, bespectacled, trumpet-playing junior named Lionel. He comes to a stop when he sees Ashley and I are blocking the path.

“So…” he comments dryly in his nasal voice, “are you guys going to just… stand there?”

“No, we’re not,” Ashley snaps back. “C’mon, let’s get going.”


	14. Frying Pan (August 28)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter chapter this time. I’ll make a later one a bit longer to even it out. I’d just rather post an uneven chapter than waste your time by adding a bunch of padding.

<Nova>

I don’t know what’s so mysterious that we couldn’t just talk about it during lunch today. Or yesterday. Why do we have to wait and talk about it after school today? It’s gotta be something illegal. I don’t care what Ashley says. I just don’t know why we can’t get it over with already. I told them that Pavia’s going to make the decision next week. But no, everyone else is _busy_ … I’m supposed to be doing work for my German class right now, but do I care? No. I don’t. _What’s the German word for orange?_ I sure fucking don’t know. How do they expect us to concentrate on doing this crap when it’s sixth period and I just wanna go home already? I have more fun things to do with my time. Maybe I’ll make a new team for Pokémon Showdown. Actually, wait, I still need to go back and change my main team since Aegislash was banned…

“Ashley Davis? No way!”

Hey, wait a second, who’s talking over there?

It’s coming from a group of guys to my left. I recognize Mason because he’s in my section, but the rest I don’t know. Mason is looking at someone else’s phone with a weird look on his face. 

“Well, now you know who Zoe’s going with Homecoming with,” one of the others says, snickering.

“Well, uh, I guess so?” Mason replies uncertainly. 

“Who should I forward this to?” the guy who’s holding the phone asks him, flipping it back towards himself.”

“Wait!” Mason interjects. “You can’t just send something like that around!”

The other two looks up him. “Why not?” asks the phone holder.

For a few seconds, Mason doesn’t say anything. Then he starts quickly saying, “I mean… you don’t want people to think you’re into that stuff. What kind of person follows girls around taking videos of them? Everyone will think you’re some sort of rapist.”

“Well, I guess you’re right about that,” the third guy says. 

“I thought you would’ve wanted to get back at her for yesterday,” the phone holder comments.

“Trust me, I will,” Mason assures him. “Just… not like that. I’m gonna get back at her by beating her at region jazz… that’ll knock that stupid superior attitude out of her!”

The phone guy snickers. “Dude, you guys play different instruments! You can’t just ‘beat her’ at that!”

“Who sent you that video, anyway?” the third guy asks. 

“I got it from Taryn, but I don’t think she’s the one who originally took it. It’s weird; this is from Friday, but it’s just now getting out. Why the wait?”

At that point, however, the teacher walks up to them. “Are you boys done with your work?”

“Um… Nearly done, Mr. Ripplinger,” Mason says, quickly making it look like he’s working.

Well… that was weird. So someone’s sending around some sort of video of Ashley? I’m really not sure what to make of that. Since I wasn’t doing my work anyway, I get out my phone and message Anja on Skype.

 

hey anja can you talk now

?

Yeah, sure, I’m just in history. What’s up?

these guys in my german class are talking about some sort of weird video?

it has something to do with ashley

Oh really?

yeah it sounded like someone got video of her doing something embarassing 

like she was usig the bathroom

...Using the bathroom?

O_O

wat

Wait, did they mention zoe at all?

yeah one of them said something like

we know who zoes going to homecoming with now

oh shit

what

I cant blieve it

They’re just fucking going out them

Fuck them

???out them

yes as lesbians

they wanted it to be a secret

wait ahsley and zoe are lesbians

They’re christians, theyre probably worried about what their families are going to do

?

we need to tell them now

Im adding you to a group chat

ok

* * *

 

**Anja:**

Ashley we need to talk

**Ashley:**

Anja why the fuck are you messagin me in class

Why is Nova here

**Anja:**

It’s improtant I promise

well fuck you too

**Anja:**

Nova tell her about what you hard

Aobut the video

**Ashley:**

What video?

these guys in my german class have some video of you

**Anja:**

Wait, wher’s Zoe? She should be in this chat too

**Ashley:**

What?

they said we know who zoes going to homecoming with

then they said they couldn’t send it to people cause they’d think they were rapists

**Ashley:**

Zoe’s in Biology right now and actually paying attention because she’s not a fucking heathen

What the fuck who are these guys, give me their names

**Anja:**

Heathen lol

Ashley I think they’re going to out you

uh i don’t know except one of them was mason the tromb one player

**Ashley:**

Like hell they are

I fucking knew it. I’m going to rip that boys limbs off

but he’s the one woh didn’t want to send it they got it from someone else

**Ashley:**

And shove them so far up his ass

That he won’t be able to sit down again

**Anja:**

Jesus

**Ashley:**

Wait, what do you mean they got it from someone else?

 

“Nova.”

I look up and see that the teacher is standing over me.

“You boys and your phones. Do I need to start taking them up?”

“Uh, sorry,” I say quickly. I grab a _Langenscheidt Universal-Wörterbuch Englisch_ and finally start working on my assignment.

* * *

 

After biology is over, I have to go to the band hall to get my instrument for after school practice. Nobody’s said much in the group chat since I was interrupted, just Ashley saying more violent shit. 

When I walk into the band hall, I see Ashley and Anja near the mellophone lockers in deep conversation. When Anja sees me, she beckons for me to come over to them.

“Hey Nova,” Anja starts, speaking quietly. “There’s been…”

“Hi guys!” Zoe greets us cheerily, walking up from behind me. “I haven’t had a chance to check the group messages, is there something going on?”

“Uh yeah, we have a bit of a situation on our hands,” Ashley explains. “We need to get somewhere private and talk, like, now.”

“I thought that wasn’t until after practice today?” Zoe questions.

“No, it’s not about that,” Ashley says. 

“Wait, are we still on for this afternoon?” I ask.

“Um, no. We’re going to have to postpone that,” Ashley tells me.

“What? Why?”

“Because… look, I’m not inviting debate over this!” she hisses at me. “C’mon, Zoe.”

She takes Zoe by the arm and leads her away. As they go, I see a few other students looking at them and whispering.

“We need to get going!” I tell Anja angrily. “The decision is next Thursday!”

“I know… I’m sorry,” she replies. “But… come on, let’s walk and talk.”

We both grab our respective instruments from our lockers, and Anja starts explaining as we walk out to the parking lot

“We’re going to take him down, I promise,” she says. “But… at least for today, we need to let those two deal with their own issues.”

“Is anything bad going to happen to them?” I ask. Sure, Ashley’s kind of a bitch, but I thought that Zoe was at least alright.

“Well… I don’t know. But I’m willing to bet that they’re going to be the target of some harassment by our classmates.”

She sighs seriously. “The best thing the two of us can do for them is just keep being their friends. Let them know we support them. We’ve got to be good Allies. Or you do, at least, since I’m technically bi myself, so…”

“Wait, you mean like, bisexual?” I ask, taken aback by this information.

“Yeah. I’ve never mentioned that before?”

I look around to see if anyone’s nearby, as we plop our cases down on the grass. “I think… I might be too.”

“Oooh, really?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure.”

Anja starts giggling. “Oh boy, what a group we are! We should call ourselves, like, ‘the all-gay supernatural strike force…’”

“Wait, supernatural?”

“Shh!” she says hurriedly, looking over her shoulders. “Okay… fine, what we’re doing is something to do with the supernatural.”

“Whoah…” I just have to take that in for a moment. “So are we gonna be… witches?”

“Uh… sort of?” She giggles again. “Our team name: ‘The League Of Gay Witches: No Straights Allowed’!”

I snigger at her. “No straights allowed? That would be stupid.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m just joking about that part.” 

She starts unlatching her case. “Maybe if we can gather all of the gays in the school together, we can overthrow the government… start our own socialist uprising…”

“Socialist? Uh, Ashley’s not going to like that part.”

Anja sighs again. “Yeah, I know she won’t… okay, we’ll compromise and make it a non-partisan uprising, I guess…”

Suddenly, I realize that almost everyone else is already out in the parking lot, and the band director is yelling over the megaphone.

Anja notices it too. “Awh shit, we better hurry!” We both begin scrambling to get our instruments together.


	15. The End (August 29- Part 1)

<Ashley>

“Good morning, Yonca.”

I am pleased to see that she jumps about a foot in the air upon hearing my voice. 

“I’m glad I could catch you alone. I want to ask you something.”

She slowly turns around to face me, trembling very slightly. “Ashley, I’m sorry about…”

“Bullshit,” I interrupt her. I press my advantage and step close to her, making her cower slightly. “So, it kind of seems like you already know what I’m going to ask.”

She gulps. “It wasn’t me.”

“If it wasn’t you, why are you so afraid?”

“I… someone else asked me...  I saw you two walk away…”

“So who was it then? Who was it who, at your suggestion, followed after us and filmed us during our little special intimate moment?”

“No… I didn’t…”

I take another step closer to her, and she cowers like she’s about to be hit. 

“You know, I really don’t care about the specifics. I just need a name.”

There is a pause. Then…

“It was Diana.”

Yeah. Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.

“I’m sorry,” she says again. She has a certain facial expression, like that of a broken prisoner of war. It’s one that I know well, for it’s haunted my dreams for the past three years. (The fact that they even look a bit alike helps.) I’m not sure if this makes me feel better or worse.

“If you’re really sorry, here’s what you’re going to do,” I begin in a whisper. She looks up me apprehensively. 

“Don’t apologize to me. You know, I’m not really the one being hurt by this. I’m used to this by now. No, you’re going to apologise to Zoe when she gets here. And you’re going to stick by her as a friend through everything that happens.” 

She buries her face in her hands, as if about to sob. She shakes her head slightly.

“Why not?” I hiss at her. I think that, if there weren’t people watching, I actually would have laid hands on her at this point. “What’s wrong with you?”

She actually is sobbing now.

“You know, Yonca, I don’t think that you’re a bad person,” I continue in a whisper. “But, it really doesn’t matter in the slightest whether you are or not. You know why? Because people who are like you exist to be the pawns of others, and as such, you contribute nothing to society.” Then, because it’s no fun beating on someone who won’t fight back, I walk away.

I see that a few people had been looking from a distance as I depart from the dusty corner of the band hall I had trapped her in. But there’s one, way at the back near the director’s office, who is looking at me harder than anyone. I make my way towards her. No point delaying the inevitable. 

“Good morning, Terra,” I say as I approach her. “I was curious if you knew where Diana is.”

“I don’t fear your wrath, Ashley,” Terra tells me.

“Nor do I yours.”

She gives me a hard, steely glare. “Diana is home sick today. Bullying people isn’t going to fix anything, you know.”

“That’s rich, coming from you.”

She leans back against the wall behind her. “You know, when Yonca first moved here, a lot of people picked on her. She was worried that she was never going to fit in here, due to her differences.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” I tell her bluntly. “I don’t care what religious views anyone has, what culture they hail from, what race they are, or whether they’re male or female. We are all equal under the law. And that means that shitty people will get that they deserve.”

“I see you fancy yourself the arbiter of justice.”

“Not me,” I say, smiling at her coldly.

Terra draws herself back up to full height. “I know it seems harsh. But I really am trying to help you guys.”

“Ah yes. Thank you so much.”

“But since neither of you seemed to have learned anything, I think I may just take this to a higher power.”

I give her a glare of instant death. Surely she doesn’t mean…

“And what makes you think that you’re helping anything by ruining Zoe’s entire life?”

“I didn’t do that. You did.” She bravely returns my glare. “When you did… whatever you people do to spread it.” 

I force a fake snigger at her. “Spread it?”

“Absolutely.” She starts picking at her fingernails, like I’m no longer interesting enough to have a conversation with. “Men go into prison straight… they leave it gay. What conclusion can we draw from that?”

I’m wondering to myself if anyone would notice if I murdered her, when an interruption comes in the form of Nova, walking up to me from the side.

“Hey Ashley!” he says, seemingly ignorant of the intensity of the situation. “Can we go somewhere and talk privately? It’s time to come up with a game plan!”

I give Terra one last withering look, trying to get across that she is lucky she got away with just that. Then, I say, “C’mon, follow me.” 

* * *

 

I leave Nova in a practice room in the back that nobody uses, and then go back to the side door to meet Zoe when she comes in. Now that probably the whole school knows about us, there’s no way in hell I’m letting anyone else have the opportunity to harass her.

When she does come in, she looks surprised to see me standing there, but still greets me with a “Good morning, Ashley.”

“Says who?” I reply. “Follow me, the four of us are going to have a chat in the back room. Then, I’m going to go to Diana’s house and murder her.” 

Fear flashes across Zoe’s face, making me feel a bit ashamed of myself. “Ashley… that’s not going f-fix anything,” she chides me.

“Well, it’ll make me feel better in the short term,” I say cooly.

I’m wondering how I’m going to track down Anja when we get into the back room, but when I walk in I see that she’s already there, sitting on the floor solemnly. Nova is on his 3DS again, but seems to be playing it more absentmindedly. 

“Fancy meeting you here,” I tell Anja.

“I actually come here all the time,” she explains. “It’s nice to get some peace and quiet in the mornings.”

Zoe and I sit down across from her. Zoe presses herself into me in a tight hug. I’m half expecting her to start crying again, but she manages to hold it together. Yesterday, a concerned Mr. Castro actually went up to her and asked if she was alright after she came out onto the marching field with her face all puffy and red, and I’m sure that Zoe doesn’t want to repeat that experience.

“You guys should brace yourself for more bad news,” I start explaining. “I was just talking to Terra, and she said something kind of  _ interesting _ .”

“Terra?” Anja asks, looking thoughtful. “Isn’t she Zoe’s friend who called me a dyke?”

“I… what? She said that?”

Zoe detaches herself and shakes her head. “No, that was Diana who said that.”

“What was she talking about with people becoming gay while in prison?” Nova cuts into the conversation unexpectedly. “That’s not how being gay works.”

“Um… you’re right, it’s not,” I reply, as Anja and Zoe both look extremely confused. “She said that because she’s a total cunt.”

Zoe winces at this. In all of the drama, I kind of forgot that she used to be friends with these people. 

“Anyway, what did she say?” Anja asks me seriously.

“I think she might be planning to reveal us to the adults at our church,” I explain. “She said something…”

“No!” Zoe shouts, cutting me off and immediately diving back into my shirt.

“What are they going to do?” Nova asks. “Make you do double communion until you become straight again?”

“One, that’s not what communion is; two, the adults at our church include both of our parents, who can do quite a lot!”

“You don’t think… you guys are in danger?” Anja asks, looking startled.

Zoe is squeezing me so tightly that it’s restricting my breathing.

“In danger? I don’t know,” I admit. “But it’s probably not going to be a ton of fun.”

I’m thinking hard about whether or not my parents had ever indicated their feelings on lesbians or gay people in general before, but drawing a blank. Then again, I never know what they’re thinking about stuff like that. Honestly, it’s kind of funny. I could tell you without a moment’s hesitation that Chris Potter is my mom’s favorite saxophone player and that my dad can play every JJ Johnson solo on  _ Trombone Master _ from memory, but I don’t know their opinions on gay rights, one of the most polarizing political topics of our day. 

“Your parents are fairly conservative people, are they not?” Anja asks me. “I saw that sign in your yard when I visited…”

“I don’t think they’re that socially conservative,” I respond. “They just don’t want to pay out their ass in taxes, that’s all.”

Anja continues to watch me doubtfully. Nova is playing his game with a somewhat vacant expression. Zoe withdraws from me again, and seems to still be holding back a meltdown, though there’s a little bit of wetness on my shirt. She’s now holding her head and breathing deeply.

I wrap my left arm around her. “So, what I’m getting at is, we’re probably not going to want to do our big heist today.” I wait for a sign that Nova is about to start bitching at me again, but thankfully he seems to be restraining himself for now. “But I know that we’re on a deadline, so… let’s try and get started on Sunday. Until further notice.”

“But you don’t know when Terra’s going to do the thing,” Anja comments. 

“Well… about that,” I begin explaining. “I think I’m going to just rip off the bandage and tell them tonight.”

Everyone else in the room looks up at me. Even Nova does it, which undoubtedly means he just ran into a pit in Mario Kart or something.

“It’ll allow me to deal with whatever horrible thing happens on my own timer,” I explain. “Also… if they’re going to learn about it anyway, I’d prefer that it be from me. That’s all.”

There is a pause. And then…

“I’ll do it tonight, too,” Zoe adds, sniffling a bit. “I… know they’re not going to like it. My family doesn’t like homosexuals. But maybe… if I can explain everything to them…”

She trails off there. I can see that there is fear in her eyes still…

“We’ll both do it at once,” I suggest. “That way… it’ll all be over in one go.”

Zoe nods in agreement. But she’s still looking blankly at the floor. Like staring into a fireplace on a cold winter night.

“Well,” Anja says, “If… you need anything… either of you, just let me know. No matter what happens, I’ll be there for you.”

“I… Thanks, Anja,” I say, taken slightly aback.

Zoe doesn’t say anything, but she does scoot over to give Anja a hug.

* * *

 

Normally, on a Friday afternoon after school, we’d be stomping across the blacktop, preparing for our upcoming halftime show. But as we have a week off from football games, instead I am at home, preparing to tell my parents that I’m a lesbian and that I’ve been dating my best friend for a week. I think I’d rather be at the game. I’m way more scared than I’d like to admit.

It’s even a day in which both of them are here at home, just laying around in the living room. I guess it was just meant to be today. (I did promise Zoe.)

And so I go into the room. They’re deep in conversation when I walk in, so I decide to just take a seat on the couch and wait for a break. They’re sitting in the armchairs that are set up directly across from the TV, which is playing one of the Star Wars movies.

“I still remember seeing Return of the Jedi in theaters as a little girl!” Mom was saying. “I must’ve been, what, seven? Eight?”

“The cultural impact the series has had is phenomenal,” Dad explains. “I wasn’t a big fan of the prequel movies, however.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about those. Weren’t those coming out around the time you were born?” She asks, looking at me.

Listening to my parents just nonchalantly talk about movies somehow just makes me feel worse, so I decide to go ahead and get this over with. 

“We need to talk about something important.”

“Oh, certainly!” Mom says, grabbing the remote and turning the volume on the TV down. “What’s going on?”

It’s stupid, but now that I’ve gotten myself into this scenario, I don’t even know how to begin.

Maybe it’s just that I always put myself in situations where I’m on the defense, and so I never have to properly explain myself. What’s the best way to approach this? Should I monologue about my experiences in life? Should I pose theological questions?

After I’m silent for a while, my parents give each other a meaningful look. (But what are they saying?)

“Well, it’s about something I’ve known for a few years now,” I begin. And I should continue from there, but I can’t bring myself to say the word.

What’s wrong with me? Why is this the thing that breaks me? I’ve always been able to charge through just about anything. Whenever I imagined this moment in my head, it’d always be with me being tough, even defiant…

My parents definitely seem alarmed by my behavior. After another significant glance, my mom actually comes over and sits next to me on the couch. 

“Tell me what it is, Ash,” she says softly, looking into my eyes.

I’ve been so stupid. I never should have let any of this happen. I never should have put myself into this situation. My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it.

“It’s about Zoe and I,” I finally say. “We had a talk a week ago, and… we have mutual feelings for each other. Romantic ones.”

I see Mom’s shoulders relax slightly. (Why? That reaction doesn’t make any sense.)

“We were thinking something like that might be happening,” she says.

Of all the things I was expecting her to say, that was not one of them. All I can say is, “What?”

Mom gets up from the couch and starts pacing around, like she’s trying to do a lot of thinking.

“It’s true,” Dad explains as she does this. “Your mother and I, we have lived long enough to recognise when two people are in love.”

“Oh hush, I’m the one who noticed it first,” Mom snaps, though she’s smiling a little bit. 

I’m speechless. They just… knew already? Or guessed, at least? My phone vibrates again… and again… I guess I better check that.

“Now, Ashley, you seem very nervous about this,” Mom explains uncertainly, turning around towards me. “But, you should know that…”

At that point, however, I stop listening to her. My phone was vibrating because Zoe was messaging me. I think she might’ve started earlier than I did. 

And what Zoe says makes my blood run cold.


	16. New Ashes (August 29- Part 2)

<Ashley>

Mom must see the look on my face and stops talking. “What’s wrong? What happened?” she asks me, sounding genuinely frightened.

“Zoe and I had planned to do the big reveal at the same time,” I explain. “And it sounds like her parents aren’t taking it well.”

Mom’s eyes start darting around the room, like she’s looking for something. “What do you mean, not taking it well?”

“Well, they yelled at her, and she had to leave the house,” I say.

Mom makes for the kitchen. “I think it’s best if I go and try to smooth things out,” she says as she walks. She grabs her purse, which for some reason was sitting on the counter near the fridge, and then takes off. Which, of course, leaves just my dad and I.

“It’s a good thing that she’s going and not me, honestly,” he comments. “I tend to not be the best at convincing people of things. She’s a lot better with that sort of stuff.”

I glare at him, trying to gauge any sort of reaction to indicate how he’s taking my recent revelation. However, he just sits there, looking thoughtful. Like usual. 

It kind of makes me angry.

“So… what are you guys gonna do?” I ask him.

He looks at me curiously. “About which thing?”

“About… anything,” I ask. I’m really not sure why his nonchalance is annoying me so much. “Are you mad? Am I about to be homeless too?”

“You’re certainly not about to be homeless, and neither is Zoe. But are we mad? I think not. I suppose I can’t speak for your mother, but all the same, I think I can be reasonably sure she won’t be.”

I sit and wait for a follow-up to this thought, but none comes. I guess what he said is a little reassuring?

“Did you ever have any experiences like this with other girls before Zoe?” Dad asks me after a while.

“Um… No,” I say truthfully. “There was someone else I liked before, but she didn’t reciprocate.”

“Okay. You said that known for a few years now. Do you have a particular motivation for telling us now?”

“Well, you guys were probably about to find out about it anyway, since some others at school found out and are intent on spreading it around.”

“Mmm,” is all Dad says to that. I still can’t see anything on his face, not anger, not concern, nothing. He’s just sitting there staring at the TV with glazed eyes. I can tell he’s not watching it, he just does that when he’s deep in thought.

I think I’ve had about enough of this. “Well, if you’re done with the twenty questions,” I tell him, but I can’t actually think of a way to end that sentence, so I just start making my way back towards my room.

“Wait!” he interjects suddenly as I go. I ignore him and keep walking.

* * *

 

<Zoe>

I’m quite surprised to see Ms. Davis’s car park across from me. Ashley hasn’t replied to my messages yet, but I assume she must have told her parents that I’m in trouble.

Ms. Davis gets out and immediately looks down at me with great concern. I imagine that I’m a really miserable sight. Sitting on the curb, having just lost about 80% of my body weight in tears.

She immediately plops right down next to me and pulls me into a deep hug. I hold back more crying for now, though I still can’t stop myself from sniffling loudly. 

“It’s going to be alright, Zoe,” she croons to me softly.

“Do… do you know? Did Ashley…”

“She told me about you two, yes. Now, let’s take a moment to get calmed down, and then I can take you home and…”

I shake my head. “No. I c-can’t go back.” Because it’s true. And the thought crushes every inch of me as I hear their angry voices in my head… Over and over…

“What do you mean, ‘can’t go back’?” she asks, frowning over me. 

“I’m not… welcome there. Not w-wanted…”

“Oh, Zoe. I know things might have gotten intense in there, but I’m sure that… your parents still love you, and that in time things will settle down.”

I don’t believe her. But I don’t say anything. I feel like I’ve been torn to pieces. 

“Here, how about I go talk to them?” She offers. “You just stay right here, and we’ll talk things over.”

Sure enough, she gets up and walks back towards my house, leaving me feeling strangely cold.

* * *

 

<Ashley>

A few minutes after that, I hear a knock on my door. Dad comes in.

“Ashley, I really would like to talk to you about all of this,” he says.

“Well, you didn’t seem to be in a big hurry to spill the beans,” I spit at him, moving in my bed to a sitting up position.

“What’s the matter? Why the anger?”

“Well, first of all, if you guys already knew what was going on, why didn’t you… I don’t know? Say something?”

“We were waiting to see if you would tell us.”

“Well, there you go, I did. Happy now?”

He takes a few steps closer to the bed. “You told us because you were backed into a corner.” 

“Yeah, well, can you really blame me? Look at what’s happened to Zoe.”

Dad frowns at me. “Did you think that your mother and I would react that way?”

“Well, how was I supposed to know?”

There was a moment of silence. Dad slowly makes his way to the bed and sits down next to me. I kind of just wish he’d go away, though.

“Your mother and I, we care very much about you, Ashley,” he tells me solemnly. “Which means that, whenever something is wrong, we want to know about it.”

“Well then, something has been wrong for the past two and a half years. And I don’t mean me being a lesbian. If you can believe it, there are actually worse things that can happen to a person than that.”

“Why must you take such a defensive tone?” he asks, sounding annoyed for the first time. “If you feel honestly that you are that way, your mom and I are not going to fault you for that.”

“But if I was bi and I just happened to fall in love with a girl, would you have a problem with that?”

“What does… I think you’re missing the overall point.”

I’m so angry that I want to start throwing stuff around the room. “You think _I’m_ missing the point here?”

“Tell me what’s really bothering you,” he urges me. “Tell me what’s wrong. You can be honest now.”

And how am I supposed to do that? How can I put it into words? 

[Life without an ally in the world. God’s people; wolves in sheep’s clothing. Every step I take in those cursed halls is dogged by people made of sand. Nothing I can do to prove myself to them, so what is there to do but prove myself to me, with collections of worth I can see. But it’s one I build by myself, a road that I walk alone. How it was lonely; at least, when I didn’t have her.] 

But I can’t say any of this aloud, so in front of my father I’m reduced to tears. Probably for the first time in several years. How useless am I now. My father brings me into an embrace, and he too has tears on his face. I don’t know why. Or how. I guess today was just meant to be The day where everyone cries. The day in which my vigilance dies. (God, what happened to me?)

* * *

 

<Zoe>

Ms. Davis returns several minutes later. Though I did not hear any raised voices from the house, I see that she is clearly furious. 

“Okay, change of plans, Zoe,” she says. “How about you come back to our place for the time being?”

I don’t have any other ideas, so I will myself to climb into the passenger’s seat.

I can tell that she’s still angry, because she’s driving way more aggressively than usual. Her acceleration and turning are erratic, and she’s going several miles over the speed limit.

My horrible sorrow starts to turn into anxiety. What happened between her and my parents? Maybe she’s angry because she’s on my side, and so she disagreed with them. But what if they managed to convince her to change her mind about being mad?

“I… I’m sorry,” I croak to her.

“Zoe, honey, you don’t need to be sorry for anything,” she says softly while running a stop sign. “I just thought that maybe we should take a day to let tempers cool… We weren’t quite able to… Of course, I always found your folks to be pretty agreeable before…”

She trails off from there. I’m willing to bet that she’s only withholding further ranting because I’m in the car.

“You’re not... mad at Ashley and I?” I ask timidly.

“No, of course not. Not mad at you… Like I said, let’s wait a little while and see what happens.”

And on that note, we make the rest of the trip in silence.

* * *

 

<Ashley>

My mom arrives a few minutes later, with Zoe in toe, confirming my worst fears.

Zoe looks surprised, even shocked, when she sees me at first. I lead her back into my room.

I think that Zoe has already ran out of tears, but she still bawls into me. Loud, ugly sobs, like the cry of a wounded animal.

When it’s quiet, I can hear my parents talking seriously through the wall. They’re quiet enough to where I can’t make what they’re saying. 

I don’t even have it in me to be angry right now, about what has happened. I’m sure the anger will come soon. But all I can feel right now is immense grief for her. I’ve lost friends before, but at least I’ve never completely lost a family. It’s tempting to just join in. But I had my little moment to cry, and so now I have to be tough for her sake. 

It goes on for so long. It must’ve been hours. All I know is that after a while, the night is out, and my mom is calmly explaining to us that Zoe can sleep in the guest bedroom, and that she can use my bathroom items for the time being. 

For what it’s worth, they do look genuinely mournful. My parents, that is.

I set our rendezvous for Sunday because I had a feeling that something awful like this might happen. I’ve seen and read the stories. I always knew that something like this could be coming. There’s no way I’m going to be emotionally prepared to handle Nova’s business tomorrow. But then, life is going to have to go on, one way or another. 

I don’t mean to be selfish by putting him off like this. I hate to put things off. But I do have feelings, though I tend to not want to show them a lot of the time. Today won’t be the last chapter of Zoe and I’s struggles. Nor will tomorrow, nor even a week from now. But with any luck, we can at least ensure the same is not true for Nova.


	17. Family (August 30)

<Zoe>

“Hey. Hey. Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup-”

It feels as if someone is shaking the bed. I try to remember what I had just been dreaming about. It had been a rather frightening one. I think it involved an amusement park mascot kidnapping children. I try to put it out of my mind as soon as possible.

“Zoe! It’s Christmas Eve! The whole family’s going to be here in like an hour!”

My eyes fly open. There, at the side of my bed, is my younger brother Collin, no doubt sent here by my parents.

“I must have overslept,” I say, already starting to feel panicky. I only have an hour or less to get dressed and ready…

“You’re fine, we still have an hour,” he says flippantly, clearly not understanding my unique challenges. He dashes out of the room without a second thought.

As I crawl out of my bed, a shadow envelops me as I remember what happened. I don’t cry, however; I cried so much yesterday that I don’t think I have any moisture left in my body. Now, I just feel a sort of dullness. Some part of me, a huge part of me, has been ripped away, leaving me empty. (Possibly forever.)

I walk out of the guest bedroom and into the kitchen area. I know from prior experience that Ashley’s family usually doesn’t eat a coordinated breakfast, and today is no exception. Her father is on the couch in the living room, talking on the phone with someone. Her mom is washing dishes, a glum look on her face. Ashley is nowhere to be seen. (That’s odd, she’s not the type to sleep in.)

I overhear Mr. Davis’s side of the conversation as I walk in.

“Mm-hmm… Well hold on there, we don’t have any proof something like that even happened. Of course, it hardly makes a difference either way…”

“Oh, good morning, Zoe,” Ms. Davis says, putting the dishes down and turning to me. She tries to give me an encouraging smile, but gives up after a second or two. “You can eat breakfast here. We’re still working on talking things out with your folks.”

I appreciate how hard they’re trying to make things right, but... somehow, I don’t think that I’m ever going to be able to live there again. And even if I do, things will never be the same again. They can’t be.

“Can I ask you a question?” I ask, my voice small and squeaky.

“Of course.”

“What will happen if… I don’t get to go back?”

Ms. Davis gives a heavy sigh. “Well… if it comes to that, you can stay here as long as you need to. Of course, we won’t force you to, if you have a family member you’d rather stay with…”

“Why, ma’am, you’re jumping to conclusions. I never… Yes, I do, of course I do, you know that… No, I’ve never smoked marijuana. What does that have to do with anything?”

It suddenly occurs to me who Mr. Davis is talking to on the phone with.

Ms. Davis clears her throat loudly, which seemingly was a signal, as Mr. Davis gets off the couch and goes into the master bedroom, still talking: “Come on now, be reasonable… They’re children, Marie! There’s no way that…”

“Let’s get you some breakfast,” Ms. Davis says, slightly louder than she was before. She scoots over the pantry and opens it up. On a middle shelf are five unopened boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

“Sorry for the lack of variety, there was a sale,” she explains.

* * *

 

Only about ten minutes left until people start arriving, and I’m still putting on my makeup. I picked out my flowery white dress for the occasion, I hope that it will do…

There’s a knock on the left door. “Hey! Can I come in and brush my teeth?”

“Come in!” I say.

Collin barges in, and slides past me to get to the other sink. He gives me a sort of mystified look.

“Why are you putting on  _ makeup _ ?”

“It’s important to look nice for a family gathering like this!”

He scoffs. “Is it really, though?” He reaches under my arms to grab his tooth brush. 

Let’s see here… which shade of blush for this? My cheeks are naturally very rosy, so maybe not something too red…

I put on a paler shade, ignoring Collin’s usual overly loud spitting into the sink.

“How do you even keep track of all of that stuff, anyway?” he asks, watching me work with a sort of fascinated horror.

“It’s really not that complicated, you know,” I explain. “Primer, foundation, contouring, blush, then eyes and lips last.”

He stares at my kit for a little bit, as if trying to make sense of which item was which. Eventually, he gives up, and rolls his eyes dramatically. “Girls are weird,” he declares, before exiting the bathroom.

I take a hard look at myself in the mirror. Since I’m rather low on time, should I bother with mascara? It might come off as over-the-top anyway.

From the right, Ashley enters, still in her sleep wear. She looks surprised to see me there.

“Are you alright?” she asks me.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” I say, “I’m just… really lost in my own head right now.”

“Can I use the sink for a moment?”

I move aside to give her access to the sink, where she starts thoroughly scrubbing her hands.

I look around Ashley’s bathroom and notice something odd. There’s a little shelf right next to the toilet which has a small stack of fashion magazines on it, as well as a book titled  _ The Ask and the Answer _ that I’ve never heard of. Ashley  _ really _ doesn’t seem like the type to be interested in those types of magazines. Maybe she uses them as spare toilet paper?

After Ashley is done, I follow her back to her room, not having any other ideas for what to do with my time. We both sit down on her bed, where Ashley puts her face in her hands. After a few minutes, she sits up, takes a deep breath, and asks, “So, how are you feeling after yesterday?”

“Honestly? I’m having a hard time feeling much of anything right now.”

“I know how that feels,” she declares, before stretching and hopping to her feet. “And I hate to be a downer, but I should warn you that whenever that happens, it doesn’t mean your emotions are gone. It just means they’re waiting, spying on you for the most unexpected time to invade again.”

I don’t know how to react to this information. I guess now I’m more prepared?

Ashley grabs a dirty, brown journal with a pretty pink gem in it that was sitting on her bedside table and sets in on her desk.

“My parents seem to be reacting to the news in an… interesting way,” she comments.

“They’ve been very kind to me,” I tell her. “Your mother said I can stay here as long as I need to.”

“Oh really? She said that?” Ashley whirls around suddenly. “I just wish I knew what’s going on inside their heads right now. Because it’s not like they’re ever going to tell me.”

And after all of that, she sits back down on the bed again.

“You seem restless,” I comment.

“It just feels so stupid,” she gripes. “Just sitting around the house right now. Doing nothing. Nothing happening. While all of this horrible stuff is happening. I need some sort of outlet.”

For some reason, I get a vivid mental image in my head of Ashley burning down someone’s house.

“I have half a mind to tell Anja and Nova to come over a day early. At least then I’d have something to do.”

Which reminds me of the mysterious thing the three of them were planning… I’m tempted to ask, but I find I don’t care very much at the moment. I just lean over and put my head on her.

* * *

 

<Nova>

My sister is terrible at Smash Bros, and she just can’t seem to accept that fact. She plays as Jigglypuff, one of the worst characters in the game, and seems to think she can win by doing nothing but spamming specials, especially Sing. 

“Come on! Just let me win for once!” she whines, after my twelfth consecutive victory.

“No. You just have to get good.”

“I’m your sister!”

“Yeah, exactly. That’s why I can’t let you win.”

She pouts something fierce at me. Then, she pushes me. 

“I bet I can beat you up in real life!” she declares.

“Get real!” I retort, pushing her back. 

She pounces towards me, but I’m ready to meet her hands halfway. I topple her over again and try to grab her and lift her in a fireman’s carry, but she’s big enough now to where that doesn’t work anymore, so we just both fall onto the couch. 

“Get off of me, idiot!” she screeches, as she repeatedly punches my back. 

“Say uncle!” I demand.

“Why would I say that?”

“I don’t know, I heard a guy at school say that once! Just say it!”

I hear the sound of chuckling over me, and look up to see that it’s Dad. We must have not noticed him coming home from work because of all the noise we were making. He’s looking at us with a weird expression; am I in trouble?

“After you two break it up, I’ll take you to get some ice cream,” he states.

“Oh really? Can we go to Sonic?” Kat asks, hastily jumping up from the couch.

“Whatever you want,” he says hoarsely, smiling at us. “Just go get your shoes on!”

* * *

 

<Zoe>

It’s a real family reunion today. Pretty much every family member who lives nearby is here. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins… lots of cousins. So many that Collin needs my help in remembering their names. The chatter is so loud that it’s deafening. Some of the younger ones are lined up by the TV. Seating is so tight that Collin and I are sitting on the floor.

“When do you think we’re going to get our turn on the Wii?” he gripes.

“Oh, let the younger ones have their fun!” I chide him.

“We hardly ever have a chance to play together anymore!” 

“Well Collin, we’re getting older. We have responsibilities now.”

“Responsibilities.” He says this in mournful way, like he’s speaking about a tragic event that took place recently.

“Things are only going to be more busy when we get to high school, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I’ve heard. School is all anyone cares about anymore.”

That’s when we’re visited by our own golden retriever, Shadow, who rolls right onto my lap. 

I’m Shadow’s favorite. I was the one who convinced Mom and Dad to take him home. They wanted to get a dog who was younger. But I just fell in love with Shadow as soon as I looked into his literal puppy dog eyes. The vet said that his previous owners abused him. It was hard to even take him on walks at first. He would take a few steps and then just stop, worried that he was about to be punished for something. It just broke my heart.

“Who’s a good boy?” I croon at him, as I pet him along his back. He’s panting heavily, no doubt excited to see so many people over.

“Isn’t there just something sick about it?” Collin says. “The fact the most important aspects of our lives right now are a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper?”

He starts picking at the carpet agitatedly. “And no matter high you work those numbers, you don’t get any respect!”

“We don’t do our schoolwork to be praised for it,” I tell him. “We do it for our personal betterment as people.” 

“Well, it’d still be nice to get some recognition every now and then!” He again looks twisted, and oddly mournful.

I don’t know what’s gotten him so worked up. Oh well. It was always on me to be the more mature one. (At least, that’s the way I rationalized it back then.)

* * *

 

<Nova>

It’s a weird feeling. Sitting here in the car at Sonic. It’s the first time we’ve done this in a while. I guess we probably technically could do this more, but Dad considers it wasteful. He says we should save it for special occasions. Anyways, this slush is so good, that it was 100% worth enduring Kat’s taunts from the back seat about me not actually getting ice cream. (No, this story is not sponsored.)

My dad had to go find a restroom (do they even have those here?) So for a while, my sister and I sit in silence, indulging in our respective desserts. And then, she breaks the silence.

“Daddy seems sad today.”

That’s all she says. He seems sad? And yet, he took us out for dessert… This makes me think.

“Do you think we’re going to have to go back to Mom?” she asks.

I turn my head around to look at her. “No, there’s no way that’s gonna happen.”

She just keeps staring at me. I bet she doesn’t even believe me.

Of course, I guess I can’t blame her for that. She doesn’t know about what we’re going to do tomorrow… Come to think of it, I don’t really know either. I know that it somehow involves the supernatural, and that’s about it. 

But all things considered, what if Dad thinks that this is the last weekend he’s ever going to spend with us?

Eventually, Dad comes back and starts taking us home. As we pull out of the parking lot, he begins.

“Well, I want to let you kids know that… You have both been an absolute blessing for me. And if something were ever to happen… You can come to me. I will do anything I can…”

“The judge isn’t going to make us go back to Mom,” I interrupt him.

He gives me a look. “Nova, we have no way of knowing what’s going to happen.”

“He’s going to do the right thing in the end,” I assert confidently.

Dad makes sort of growling sound in his throat. “I’ve been around long enough to know that these public officials don’t give a damn about people like… people like us. Every time someone new takes power in this country, they’re always promising that they alone know the answer, they alone know the best way to benefit the working class. But from my perspective, nothing ever seems to change much…”

This reminds me of Anja. How angry she got last weekend. How she got all up in arms about these people in power.

But then, I remember that she said her mother had run for governor years ago. I wonder if her mom ran on the exact same types of promises. I guess we’ll never know if she would’ve lived up to them or not. But it seems like most don’t.

* * *

 

<Zoe>

By the time of the evening, Ashley’s parents are away for a gig, leaving us on our own once again for dinner. Ashley evidently isn’t much of a cook, as she is currently rummaging around the freezer.

“Oh, here we go!” she exclaims, pulling out a rather large TV dinner. “Do you think that if we split this lasagna, it’ll be enough for you?”

“Yeah, that’ll be enough,” I reply, feeling like I’ll be lucky to even finish my half with my current appetite. “Do you need any help?”

“It’s a TV dinner. I think I’ll be okay.” She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, and then walks over to the microwave to get it started. I figure that I’ll go wait in the dining room. 

The dining room table is packed to its full carrying capacity. There are actually so many people here that some of them are sitting in the living room. Everyone has their plates piled with grilled salmon, asparagus, macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes. I take a seat in between Collin and my mother. Collin’s plate is about 75% macaroni and cheese.

“Is everyone at the table?” asked Grandpa Bob, my grandfather on my dad’s side. “If we’re ready to start… I just want to say thank you to Jesus our lord. Thank You for our food today, for family, and for everything we have in life. On the eve of Your birthday, we praise you. Amen.”

There are a few “Amens” around the table, and then everyone goes back to chattering as before. 

Ashley walks into the dining room holding a plate in each hand. Shadow runs up to her and starts pawing along her front. Ashley is very confused by this, and simply stands still and says “Um… um… what do I do?”

“Get down, boy! That food isn’t for you!” Dad shouts, getting up from the table. “Here, I’ll let him outside.” I make a mental note to slip him some leftovers later.

“Sorry about that, I’m not too used to pets,” Ashley explains as she sits down directly across from me. “You wanna know a fun fact? Jesus wasn’t born on Christmas Day.” She slides me one of the plates she was carrying. “He was most likely born in the summer or fall, according to historians. Christmas was actually adapted from a pagan festival. So really, Christmas isn’t actually even that Christian, despite having the word ‘Christ’ in the name. Weird, huh?”

Nobody else reacts to this, which makes sense because she wasn’t really there. I ponder this as I start on my portion of the lasagna. It almost feels like something I should point out… but somehow, I feel that my family doesn’t really want to be corrected.

“So, how is my favorite niece doing?” My Aunt Kathy asks me, sitting on the end of the table past Collin. (The joke is, of course, that I’m her only niece.) “You’re at an age where you’re starting to get interested in boys, aren’t you?”

“Oh Kathy, she’s still in eighth grade!” Mom interjects. “It’s too early for that!”

“What kind of boys are you interested in?” Aunt Kathy asks me, ignoring Mom.

“Um…” My brain scrambles to think of some boy I found interesting… but I end up going with a boring cop-out answer. “Ones who have noble character and a strong sense of purpose, I suppose.”

“Oh honey, I didn’t mean like that. I meant like, tall? Short?”

“Um, tall, I guess,” I say. I wink at Ashley, who looks confusedly back at me.

“Well, I think it’s very admirable that you would prioritize a man’s character,” Mom comments. “Looks won’t determine if a man is marriage material…”

“Not everyone gets married, you know,” Collin cuts in unexpectedly, stabbing his mac and cheese so hard that it’s making loud clinking noises.

“Your hair is getting too long, boy,” Mom retorts, reaching over to comb through his hair with her fingers. Collin just ignores this, and keeps on spearing his noodles as if they personally insulted him.

As for me, I stay silent and continue with my lasagna. It’s actually pretty good for a TV dinner. I wonder which brand it is?

* * *

 

Later that evening, both of us were lounging around in Ashley’s bedroom. Ashley got so bored that she started talking about state politics.

“...Everyone thought that Lt. Gov. Perry was going to go on to be the next long-term governor, but in 2002 Schneider pulled off an upset win against him in the primaries. Then, you already know this part, Rep. Beatty challenged him in the general when he was up for re-election… Anja’s mom. It’s a damn shame that she passed away like that. Of course, we didn’t live in Texas yet at the time, so I don’t know a lot about the controversies surrounding that race. Anyway, since then, he’s been re-elected again and again pretty much uncontested. He’s now the longest serving governor in the history of the state.”

She leaned back and laid out across her bed. “I don’t actually have that strong of a political preference, you know. I just really like to annoy Anja. And, I mean, some of the economic policies the left is pushing are kind of stupid…”

Suddenly, she catches my eye and stops talking. “I bet I’m boring you to death.”

I shake my head. “No, it’s not you. It’s just… I can’t stop thinking about them.”

She slowly sits up and puts her arm around me gingerly.

“This is going to sound really stupid,” I say, “But… I think I’m going to miss them.”

“That’s not stupid to me,” she replies. “Every now and then, when I’m having trouble getting to sleep, I still think about my old friends. I wonder if they still remember me. If they’ve changed. If they regret what happened… not like it really matters.”

“And the other thing is… all my memories of my life… even ones that used to be happy… now just seem so… wrong.”

“We all miss the good old days. Even if they weren’t as good as we remember. It’s human nature.”

I lean over against her, pressing my head above her chest. She wraps her arms around me, seemingly instinctively. 

“If there’s any silver lining to this,” she says, “It’s been really nice to have you around the house today. Having someone to talk to. Normally I’d be practicing, doing homework, maybe reading, maybe watching TV if I’m home alone…”

“Thank you for being here for me,” I tell her. “It means more to me than I can ever say.”

“We’re in this together, Zoe. Don’t forget that.”

And for a while, we just sit there like that. Feeling each other. Our souls momentarily vibrating together. And then, Ashley’s phone starts vibrating, making a loud clattering sound on her bedside table. And then it vibrates again. And again…

Ashley finally breaks the embrace and lets out an irritated sigh. She grabs her phone and checks it disdainfully.

“As I thought, it’s those two,” she explains. “Well, I suppose we do need to figure out how we’re going to meet tomorrow…”

“You never explained exactly what you guys are doing,” I comment. Admittedly, recent events drove it completely out of mind, and I imagine it did the same for her.

“I’m going to have to explain it to the other two tomorrow, and when I do, I want you to be there as well,” she explains. “You have a right to know. Just a fair warning, though… it’s weird. It’s really weird. I’d try and get used to things being weird. Recently, strangeness has been entering my life with targeted precision…”

After everything, I can’t imagine being too shocked by anything at this point. After all, a week ago, the idea that such a horrible thing would happen to me would never have crossed my mind. 

I thought it this morning, and I still think it now. I don’t think things are ever going to be the same again. My life has been changed dramatically, permanently, and harshly. It feels as if I’ve been poisoned.

It feels as if I’ve been poisoned, not just yesterday, but for a long time. I couldn’t have ever believed this of my own family. But now that I have seen a new side of them, it feels rather like something which I've always known, that’s haunted me like an ominous shadow. Because everything in my life- private and public, morning, day, night, inside, outside… it was all for them. And it’s hard not to feel like it was all for nothing. Because I couldn’t have ever been the child I needed to be for them. The thought crushes my soul like a soda can.

My life has been destroyed, and now it’s up to me to do something I’ve never dreamed of doing before; forming a new one from the ashes. But at least the new one won’t be all bad. After all, I have her.


	18. The Game (August 31)

<Anja>

So, today is the big day. The day in which we all cook up our plan to make that judge pay.

It was supposed to be several days ago, but we ended up putting it off. For perfectly understandable reasons, of course.

Ah, parents. It’s not wrong to say that they can make or break your quality of life. I’m fortunate enough to have a pretty good relationship with my father. He even knows about me being bi. Of course, being a psychiatrist, he knows better than to hold that against me. 

And from what it sounds like, Ashley’s parents have been doing… okay. I think we’re going to have to wait and see what exactly they do from here. But shit hit the fan with Zoe’s family. Poor Zoe… she’s such a sweetheart, she really never deserved this.

I park next to the tiny building at the front of Nova’s apartment complex to pick him up, since I can’t go through the gate. I message him to let him know I’m here, and a few minutes later he comes dashing up to the car.

“I thought you didn’t have your license yet?” He asks me, as he climbs into my car. 

“Yeah, I’m not _really_ supposed to be driving without an adult,” I explain, backing out of the parking lot. “But as long as I don’t leave town, I should be fine.”

“Better not get pulled over.”

“I won’t. And if I do, I’ll just use my white privilege to get out of it.”

He makes a weird sound that’s somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. “Or I guess we could just get Pavia to give you a pardon or whatever.”

“...Can he do that? Like, in his position?”

“Hell if I know.” He pulls out his 3DS. “Ready to kick some ass?”

“Oh, I was born ready. But I’m not sure if we’re actually doing the thing today, we’re just coming up with a game plan.”

“Well, the game plan better be to do it before Thursday.”

“Yeah. I mean, if we don’t do that, what’s the point?”

There’s a pause for a few seconds.

“My dad’s been acting kind of sad,” he comments. “He thinks he’s going to lose.”

“Well, the game is rigged against him. I guess in the worst case scenario, you’d only have to be with your mom until you’re eighteen. And most custody settlements allow for some visitation with the other parent.”

He shakes his head. “No way I’m staying with that bitch. Four days would be too much.”

“That’s… quite a strong way to talk about your own mother.”

“I never fully told you about what she did.” 

He lets out a hefty sigh. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him jabbing the buttons a little more angrily than before.

“She… really hated how much I play video games. Sometimes, when she had a bad day at work, she’d get home and just scream at me about it. She told me that I was wasting my life, that I was ‘socially inept,’ that I was going to be on my own after high school and would probably end up homeless…”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. Also, when my grades were bad, she’d sometimes go into a rage and break one of my game discs. I never got to finish Paper Mario for the GameCube.”

“Oh no! That’s a good one. I’ll lend it to you sometime so you can finish it.”

“Thanks, Anja. She yelled at my sister too, though not as much. She stopped playing games with me for a while because she was too afraid of being yelled at. She yelled at my dad the most. Hit him, too, and threw stuff around. She blamed him for both of us being horrible children, and also for not getting a high-paying job. Not like we needed it, she makes so much as a lawyer for Vermillion Oil.”

I find this interesting for a few reasons… but for now, the only question I can ask is this. “Nova… If you don’t mind me asking… Why did your parents get married?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. After this blows over, I’ll ask him sometime for you.”

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that. It’s normal for parents to want their children to succeed. My dad gives me extra allowance if I get all As and Bs. But that is just… horrible.”

Before long, we arrive at Ashley’s place. I’m surprised to see that Ashley and Zoe are waiting for us out in the front yard.

All it takes is hopping out of the car for me to feel their energies. Zoe has something new in her eyes that I don’t recognize. Ashley… she somehow seems to have gotten taller since I last saw her. 

“We’ll talk once we arrive at our base of operations,” Ashley says dispassionately. It would’ve been nice to get a warmer welcome than that… but I guess it makes sense why neither of them would be in a great mood right now. And so, we make our way to the Methodist church.

“You’re taking us to _church_?” Nova asks incredulously. “I haven’t been in a church for years now.”

“We’re not going inside, we just need to hang out behind it,” Ashley explains. “This isn’t even the church we usually go to.”

“Why wouldn’t you just go here?” Nova inquires. “It’s literally a two minute walk from your house.”

“Because, Nova…” She sighs. “Religion is complicated.”

“You guys didn’t go today, did you?” I question, noticing that neither of them are dressed up.

“No, my parents thought it’d be better to take a week or so off. Let things cool down.”

“My parents are… very influential in the community,” Zoe explains weakly.

Eventually, we reach the picnic tables. Ashley, without any further ado, pulls out her phone and hits that app.

* * *

 

I hear someone screaming as soon as we reach the other side, for a terrifying moment I think we are being attacked. However, it turns out the screaming is just from Nova.

“WHAT THE F- What… What the f…”

He seems utterly at a loss for words. He’s turning around wildly and looks like he’s about to start ripping his own hair out. Zoe is also looking bewildered at her surroundings, but she’s taking it better, so I bet Ashley gave her some idea of what was about to happen beforehand.

“Oh yeah…” I say, “Sorry Nova. We probably should have warned him.”

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?” he finally stutters out, glaring at Ashley with tufts of hair still in his hands.

“Will you calm the fuck down!” Ashley commands him.

“NO! I WON’T!” Nova yells. He finally releases his hair, and instead kicks a nearby picnic table in frustration. Impressively, he’s actually able to knock it straight over.

“Just quit acting like a child and sit down!” Ashley snarls, taking a seat at the now-velvet picnic table closest to her. Zoe and I follow.

Then, from out of the woods comes Ted, dashing on all fours and then making a leap with surprising agility up on top of the table. “Is everything alright?” he asks. “Your friend is very distressed.”

Zoe looks at Ted with wide, glowing eyes. I’m not sure if it’s wonder, amusement, or perhaps a combination of the two. 

When Nova sees Ted, it breaks him. He instantly freezes in the exact position he was in, as if paralyzed, and just stares at the little cowboy armadillo in front of him. 

“Hey, um… Ted, right?” Zoe offers timidly. “Would it be okay if… our friend could pet you?”

“Pet me? Ma’am, that would be very emasculating.”

“Hey, it’s okay! You’re among friends here!” I assure him. 

“You think I should… pet him?” Nova asks, looking very uncertain. 

He slowly approaches Ted, and then gingerly lays a hand upon the top of his head and strokes it. Slowly, Nova is coaxed into sitting down, albeit still with buggy eyes. 

“Alright. Let’s get started already,” Ashley says officially. 

“First things first,” I suggest, “I think we need a team name.”

“Uh… no, we don’t.”

“Hey… what’s up with your outfits?” Nova asks. He’s starting to look a bit calmer. Ted has his eyes closed, I bet he’s secretly enjoying it.

(Turning the animal mascot into a service animal… that was pretty smart of Zoe! I don’t give her enough credit.)

“They’re Personas,” Ashley explains. “Basically, once you awaken one, you can fight and use magic and stuff. Anja and I already did ours.”

“How do you do that?”

“By necessity. They awaken during really dangerous situations.”

“It requires… feeling a strong emotion,” Ted explains, still drinking in Nova’s attention. (Ha! “Emasculating” indeed.) “Feeling mortal terror can awaken it, but so can fury, grief, or even mania.” 

“Yeah, it was mostly anger for me,” Ashley explained. 

“I was fucking terrified when mine awoke,” I admitted. “That was some creepy-ass shit.”

“What was it that was creepy?” Nova asked.

“Well… let me explain it to you this way. Do you know how, in a lot of hentai, there’s…”

“Look, how about we tell personal stories later!” Ashley interrupts me rudely.

“Don’t be a fucking prude! We’re all adults here.”

“Um… Anja, NONE of us are adults.”

“I’m an adult,” Ted comments unncessarily, “but I don’t even know what a ‘hen tie’ is.”

“Come on Ashley,” I continue, ignoring Ted, “I know you’ve seen it before.”

“Actually, no I haven’t.” To Ashley’s left, Zoe is blushing furiously.

“Liar, liar, plants for hire!” I tease. Nova laughs loudly at this.

Ashley, however, has had enough. She stands up and slams both hands on the table.

“Okay. Both of you shut the fuck up. I’m not having this conversation with you when we’re supposed to be planning for something serious. Remember, this was _your_ idea!”

“Yes, yes. My apologies, sir.”

Ashley glares at me so hard that I feel like I’m about to spontaneously combust. Still, I don’t regret it. The way I see it, this is just payback for the “little sister” thing from last time.

Ashley very slowly sits back down at the table. Then, without further explanation, she pulls her phone out again and starts… calling someone?

“Uh, Ashley?” I have to question. “I don’t think we’re going to get any service here.”

“Shut up.”

To my shock, after a few seconds, I hear someone speaking from the other end.

“Hello again, Ashley. So, it is time now, is it not?”

“Who the fuck are you?” Nova asks.

“Ah, there’s a new voice! Hello, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Lucy!”

“Uh… hi. I’m Nova.”

“Nova, huh? That’s an unusual name.”

“It’s for an unusual person,” Ashley jabs. For this, Nova gives her the middle finger.

“My name is Anja,” I say.

“Anja… is that a Polish name?” Lucy asks.

“Uhh… I think?”

“My name is Zoe,” Zoe adds. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”

“So Ashley,” Lucy says, “which one of them is your girlfriend?”

“Um… Th-that’s me,” Zoe replies timidly.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Zoe. You must be quite the remarkable person.”

“Uh… thank you?”

Ted makes as if he’s about to speak, but Ashley catches his eye and shakes her head.

“So, you’re the one from the book, huh?” I ask her.

“The book?” Nova asks, annoyed at yet again being left out of the loop. “What book?”

“I’ve been in contact with Ashley here using a special artifact of my own invention,” Lucy explains.

“Yeah, it’s confusing. We’ll figure it out as we go,” I assure Nova.

“Okay, enough lollygagging around,” Ashley cuts in sternly. “Lucy, we have found our first target. We just need to know how to proceed in changing his heart.”

Lucy giggles very loudly. It’s sort of creepy. Like the giggle of a serial killer. “Ah, very good! Who’s our first customer?”

“Our local Judge Timothy Pavia,” I explain. 

“Going after politicians already!” Lucy says, impressed. “I was expecting you to start with your neighborhood drug dealer or something.”

“His crimes: trying to force Nova and his little sister to move back in with their abusive mother; classism; possibly racism? Aren’t you mixed?”

“Uh… my dad is black, my mom is hispanic,” Nova explains.

“Okay. So definitely classism, not sure about the race part.”

“Can he really do that?” Lucy questions. “In most states, the child is allowed to pick which parent they go with once they’re about thirteen.”

“Yeah, well, you can thank Gov. Schneider for that one,” I explain. (Because in some alternate universe where someone else had been elected governor in 2002, the laws probably wouldn’t be as bad as they are.) “Anyways, the last thing… maybe misandry? It’s hard to tell, since he’s a dude himself.”

“Well, the courts are rigged in favor of women when it comes to this stuff,” Ashley comments. “You can thank feminism for that.”

“Hey! Don’t blame feminism!” I shout at her. “Feminism is about equality!”

“Yeah, it’s _supposed_ to be.”

“Guys, now’s not the time for one of your arguments!” Zoe interjects quickly.

Lucy chuckles over the phone. “You two remind me of a couple of my old friends. They disagreed a lot, but I know they loved each other deep down.”

“Well… anyway. Let’s get back on topic,” Ashley says sheepishly.

“Alright. If your going to change this man’s heart, the first thing you need to do is find his Palace,” Lucy explains. “The process of finding Palaces used to be pretty involved, but I’ve refined the app to make it pretty simple for you guys. All you need to do is find out where it is the Palace is.”

“Uh… okay,” Ashley says. “So, when you say ‘Palace,’ do you mean it’ll look like an actual palace, or what?”

“It might. But they can take a variety of forms. It’ll be located at some location that is important to your target, usually their workplace. You’ll be able to easily tell what’s a Palace and what’s not by the lack of the normal esoteric color scheme and aesthetic.”

Suddenly, I gasp, remembering something. “Lucy… can a Palace take the form of a _jungle_?”

“It might. Why do you ask?” Her tone of voice has changed somewhat. She now sounds much more concerned than before.

“When we entered the Metaverse at school, we ended up in some weird jungle,” Ashley explains.

“Yeah, that’s how my Persona got unlocked. I was being held in place by a bunch of vines!” I add, shuddering slightly.

There’s a sharp exhale of breath from Lucy’s end. “That is… very bad news. I’ve encountered Palaces like that before, and they are the ones that belong to some of the most sick and twisted people in the world.”

“Do you think that’s Pavia’s Palace?” Nova asks.

“No way, why would his Palace be the _school?_ ” Ashley retorts.

“It most likely belongs to somebody who’s teaching there, or maybe another student with an aggressive streak,” Lucy explains. “All I can say is… watch your back while you’re there.”

“So, we just need to avoid entering at the school for now,” I summarise. “And Pavia’s Palace will most likely be the courthouse.”

“Alright, what do we do once we find it?” Ashley presses. 

“You will have to make your way through whatever lies for you inside. There will be enemies, and probably puzzles as well. If your persevere, though, you’ll make it to the room of the big boss, where you will fight a monsterous version of your target. Generally, the more evil the person is, the more difficult the Palace is to get through.

“Once you’ve defeated whatever monster is in the final room, you have two options. You may either take the boss’s treasure, which will allow you to fix the target’s behavior in real life; or, you can simply kill the target’s shadow form, which will cause them a rather gruesome death in real life as well. Since this is a pretty low level baddie here, I wouldn’t recommend killing him. But some people’s crimes… can not be forgiven.”

There is a brief pause following that rather ominous statement, in which we all sort of look around at each other. Zoe looks nervous again; Nova is back to drumming his fingers on the table and appears to be thinking.

“So, it’s that simple, huh?” Ashley asks in confirmation. “Thanks for the intel.”

“You’re always free to call back if you need help, but from here on out, it’s up to you all to do the work. Good luck, my children.” And with that, she hangs up on us.


	19. Unforgiving Cold (September 1- Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m adding chapter titles back again because I can’t make up my mind about anything ever. They’re not going to be the same ones I had before, though. I came up with new ones that are simpler.

<Ashley>

It’s about a hundred degrees outside. That’s not an exaggeration, I checked, and it’s in the high 90s. Which means that marching practice was particularly brutal. A girl in the clarinet section passed out. So I don’t really appreciate that Anja is late picking me up. (I thought that telling my dad that I wanted to hang around city hall with a couple of friends and a wild armadillo after my piano lesson would come off as very suspicious.)

Zoe took the whole thing better than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, she was freaked the hell out, but she at least wasn’t more so than I was the first time. She did find this method of changing things… questionable, and honestly I kind of agree with her on that. But we’re still sticking with it. At this point, it seems like we’re in too deep to back out of it now. That said, we did agree that Zoe won’t be joining us in doing the actual fighting and Palace crawling, so she is at home right now. 

At long last, Anja comes rolling up, Nova in the passenger seat. So I climb into the back, where a certain armadillo is nodding at me curtly from the next seat.

Anja messes with her phone for a little bit before putting the car back in motion.

“I didn’t realize you were old enough to drive.”

For some reason, Anja gives Nova a quick, sharp look. “Well, I am.”

“Well, that’s for the better. We don’t want to generate suspicion.”

“ _ In a quarter mile, turn left onto Mango Street.” _

“You really think you need Google Maps for this?” I question. “Nova could’ve given you directions. This town isn’t that complicated to navigate.”

“I don’t see how it matters.”

“Well, do you really want to tell Google where you are at every second of the day?”

“What are they going to do with that information?”

“I don’t know. Whatever they want. I thought that, being a liberal, you would be more wary of the motives of large corporations.”

“Okay. That’s enough commentary from the peanut gallery.”

We arrive at our destination shortly after that. I’ve never been to the courthouse before now. It’s a white, rectangular building lined with windows, that has a taller and wider center. It’s almost a little like a mini version of the White House.

“That’s him!” Nova hisses at us shortly after we climb out of Anja’s car. There’s a man exiting the courthouse from the front. 

“Awh shit! That’s just our luck!” Anja whispers, looking around as if trying to find somewhere to hide.

“Chill,” I tell her, “What’s he going to do, call the cops on us? Besides, it’s probably better that Anja and I know what he looks like anyway.”

“What if he does call the cops on us?” Anja presses me. “We don’t know what this guy’s damage is.”

“What are you kids doing here?” Pavia asks, still a few yards away.

I turn towards him. He’s an older man, heavily balding. He carries himself in a very pompous way.

“Oh, just exercising our civic duty,” I say.

“Hmm… you’re the Mosely boy!” He says, having just noticed Nova, who is glaring at him.

“You can’t talk to him like that!” Anja snaps at him. “What makes you think you’re so high and mighty?”

Pavia blinks, taken off guard by the jab. After a second, he recovers and puts on a faux-fatherly vibe.

“Well, little girl, I’ve proudly served this county for over a decade now. Doing my part to uphold the law, both that of the founding fathers and of our Creator…”

“You mean George Washington told you to make him move back in with his abusive mother?”

He smiles a dangerous smile. “Ah, so you believe the story of this r- er, this young boy?”

For some reason, Anja freaking loses her shit at this. She goes red in the face and starts stuttering “How… you j-... I…”

I think I’d better defuse the situation. I put my hand on her shoulder and say, “Anja… let’s just get along with  _ the reason we came here _ , okay?”

“You seem like a responsible young lady,” Pavia says to me. “Make sure that these two stay out of trouble.” And on that note, he walks away, clearly having more important things to do than talk to us.

“Oh don’t worry, we’re going to get into  _ plenty  _ of trouble,” Anja muttered, wringing her hands maniacally. “Like ripping you a second…”

“What’s gotten into you?” I scold her. “We’re supposed to  _ wait _ to get angry until we’re fighting the demons and shit!”

“You heard what he was about to say!”

“Actually, I didn’t. That’s kind of the nature of it not actually being said.”

“He was going to say the r-slur. I just know it.”

“The r-slur?” I rack my brains for a word starting with r that would refer to a racial minority.

“She means ‘retard,’” Nova adds softly.

“That’s a slur now?” I ask.

“Yes it is!” Anja answers. “I’d like to give that shithead a piece of my mind!”

“Don’t bother,” Nova tells her. “People like him don’t listen to people like us.”

I seriously never knew that was a slur. I always thought it was just another word for “idiot.” In hindsight, I suppose that explains why my mom once got really angry at me for saying that. I’ll make a note of this for the future.

“Well, we don’t know that’s what he was going to say,” I remark. “Maybe he was going to say ‘runt’ or ‘ruffian’ or something. Granted, I suppose that still would’ve been really rude…”

“It doesn’t matter. Honestly, I don’t care,” Nova insists. “Let’s just get on with it.”

With clear reluctance, Anja bites her lip and drops it. I press the app, and into the purple haze we go.

* * *

 

...Or not. It’s clear the moment the world comes into focus that this place is a bit different.

My eyes are stabbed by the flash of a bright light. I turn and see that it’s from a huge building that is where the courthouse just was.

“Wow, looks like Mr. Clean went a little overboard,” Anja comments. Nova laughs loudly at her.

The building is in the same shape as the courthouse, but it is made entirely of a sort of limestone-esque stone that emits a very noticeable glow. The building also looks a bit fancier, with some extra frills and rafters The landscape around it is also affected for several yards in every direction. The dark colors of the rest of the Metaverse subtly transition into the bright white texture, and the veins get smaller as they approach before seeming to turn down into the ground beneath it. 

Well, I guess it’s nice that the first “Palace” we willingly encounter actually looks like a palace, as that will make it easier to remember from here on out.

“Don’t let the inviting appearance put you at ease,” Ted says from right beside us, causing Anja and Nova to jump about ten feet in the air. “Any place in the Metaverse that sticks out of the texture like this is bound to be filled with danger.”

“You snuck up us!” Anja chides. “Hey, wait a sec!” She looks around us. “We’re further away from the place than before!”

Come to think of it, she’s right. We had our little chat with the big man on the sidewalk in front, but now it looks like we’ve been moved back to where the other side of the street would be.

“Well, it makes sense that it would teleport us to wherever the very front is,” Nova offers. “If we just popped up right in the middle, that’d be too easy, now would it?”

“That doesn’t add up though,” Anja says, frowning. “Back at the school, we ended up in the middle of the tentacle rape jungle the moment we entered.”

“That is strange,” I admit. “I guess different Palaces have different rules.”

I begin walking towards the entrance of the building. After a pause, I can hear the others follow suit.

The closer we get to the building, it somehow feels like we’re not walking towards it at all. It just feels like we’re standing in the same place, and the Palace is just growing ever larger, hovering over us like a ghost. 

“It feels kind of stupid walking around in a tee shirt while you two are all fancy,” Nova comments unecessarily.

“Don’t you worry, I’m sure you’ll be getting your own soon,” I assure him.

“Are you implying that you’d like to wear my dress?” Anja teases.

“If I did, you wouldn’t have anything to wear!”

“Eh. I can just go naked.”

“And have no protection against whatever monsters we meet?” I question her.

“It’s not like a dress is much protection anyway.”

I sigh at her. “Anja, remember, we’re in a metaphysical world here. I think it’s safe to assume that our outfits don’t directly provide us with material protection like they would in the regular world.”

“Ashley, I literally don’t have a clue what you just said.”

“Forget it. Just keep your clothes on.”

Anja sighs back dramatically. “I’ll try.”

After what feels like several hours, though it should’ve only been only about a minute, we arrive at the entrance. 

“Everyone got a hold of their panties?’ I ask the group at large.

“I don’t wear those,” Nova responds. “I’m a boxers guy.” Without further ado, he shoves the front door open, and I follow in after him.

As it turns out, the Palace is bigger on the inside. We enter a magnificent chamber, which has no other entrances or exits as far as I can see. It’s about fifty feet tall, twenty feet wide, and stretches so far that I can’t see the other end directly in front of us (assuming that there even is one.) The floor is lined with white bricks covered by a red carpet that leads straight forward. The walls are adorned with matching red drapes and various golden vases sitting on wooden shelves. In between each shelf is a marble statue of something that resembles an angel. What’s unusual about them is that they all have their mouths wide open, as though screaming. The effect is quite unsettling. (Although it also makes me wonder if my Persona being an angel will give me some type of home advantage.) The ceiling is slanted glass, beyond which is a bright sunny day covered by endless fluffy clouds.

“Well… dude sure knows how to decorate,” Anja comments uneasily. Nova is squinting, carefully scanning the room. 

“Looks like there’s no way to go but forward,” I say. “At least there are no enemies around.”

Suddenly, I realize something. “Hey, wait a sec. Where’s Ted? I thought he was right behind us.”

“Uh-oh, did we leave him behind?” Anja asks, looking around her feet.

I turn back towards the door and try to open it again, but it won’t budge.

“Um… fuck. Stand back,” I tell the others. I slash at the door several times with my sword. It doesn’t even leave a scratch.

“I don’t think the Palace wants us to leave,” Nova comments, somewhat ominously.

“Well… I hope the little guy’s okay,” Anja says. 

“It seems we have no choice but to soldier on and meet up with him later,” I say. And so we begin walking down the red carpet. 

This room seriously is ridiculously big. We keep on walking, but there’s no end. Is this a trap? Is there any way out at all?

Why did I agree to do this, anyway? I mean, none of us really knows what the fuck we’re doing. I guess that’s what Ted was here for. But now he’s not here. I mean, I guess it doesn’t matter. It feels like I’m not just walking to progress, I’m walking away from something. But I’m also walking towards something. But what does that even mean? I try to just push it out of my mind. I can’t think. I feel like my brain is addled or something.

“Hey guys,” I say, “Can we take a quick break? My legs are getting a bit sore.”

No response.

I turn around. Neither Anja or Nova are there. What… the fuck?

“Hey guys! What the hell?” I shout. I start jogging backwards. Did something happen to them? How did I not notice?

After a while, I see Anja curled up on the floor.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” I demand of her. I look down and see her… crying?

I get down on one knee. “What happened to you?”

She puts her face in her hands, hiding it from me. “We need to go, Ashley. There’s nothing we can do here. It’s… too much.”

“What’s too much?” I question her. 

“You mean you can’t feel it too? The evil. We’re going to walk straight into the evil.”

She’s totally off her fucking rocker. I look around the room. Is something putting a spell on her? Somehow, I suspect the statues...

“It will destroy us, Ashley,” she continues. “I’m just one person. Not even old enough to vote yet. I’m just food for the machine.”

Extremely alarmed by her behavior, I jump to my feet and try to think. I have no clue what the fuck she’s on… Maybe… If I find Nova, he’ll be able to talk some sense into her? That doesn’t really make any sense, but it’s the only idea I have, so I run back to find him. 

It’s not long before I run into him. He too is sitting on the floor, sitting in the fetal position and staring blankly into space. Well, at least he’s not crying, so that’s an improvement.

“Nova! Get off your ass!” I yell at him. “Something’s wrong with Anja! She’s gone loopy. We need to get her to snap out of it!”

“What am I going to do about it?” He says, his voice as blank as his stare. “I’m totally socially inept. If you couldn’t do anything, I won’t be able to.”

“Nova, just quit being a bitch and help me!”

“You don’t get it. I can’t help with anything. I don’t do anything but sit around and play video games. I literally have no skills. Well, my mom was right about that much.”

“Nova, we came here to do this so that you  _ don’t have to deal with your mom anymore. _ Remember? How about we finish the assignment now, and mope about our lives afterwards?”

He just ignores me. I get so frustrated that I just start walking back towards the end again. 

Okay, I guess I’m doing this without them then. Fine. Whatever. It’s just the story of my life. You think that they’re on your side, and then they just leave you, for no reason. I’m just stuck walking down this stupid corridor alone. Passing all of these stupid screaming statues. They’re screaming at me. At what I’ve done wrong.

And what exactly have I done wrong? I mean, it’s not like I wanted this. It’s not like I did anything to deserve it. I just got unlucky. Everyone just turned on me because of who I am. Over something that I can’t control. That’s not my fault. What could I have done? I guess I could’ve planned my big reveal a little better. And some of them had turned on me even before they knew… 

Ah, why am I thinking about this? It doesn’t even matter. No use thinking about what was. When the going gets tough, I do what I always do. I just keep on walking. I don’t like to leave things unfinished. I’m not going to start something and just abandon halfway through. If I have to do the whole group project by myself, so be it. 

I guess I’m not completely by myself, though. I mean, I have Zoe now. Oh Zoe. Oh God. I did this. All the misery that she’s been through. It’s my fault, isn’t it? If I hadn’t liked her so much, I wouldn’t have tried so hard to be friends with her, which means that she wouldn’t have started to like me so much. Though I don’t even know why she likes me to begin with, if I’m honest. Because it is true. I haven’t learned a thing. Nobody has ever benefited from associating with me. 

I think I must be driving myself insane. Damn it all!


	20. Rut (September 1- Part 2)

<Ashley>

I feel something warm in my arms. It’s really nice to hold… I’d like to just sit here for a while and enjoy this. Why does it have to be so bright in here?

“Um… Ashley?” A girl’s voice says.

I open my eyes. It turns out that the something I’m holding is Kimmie… 

“Oops, sorry about that,” I say quickly, retracting my arms and blushing. 

She smiles. “It’s okay... we can’t control what we do when we’re sleeping, now can we?” She winks at me.

I’m not sure how to follow up this enigmatic response. I look around the room. Tasha and Maria are already awake and dressed.

“What time is it?” I ask them.

“Breakfast in ten minutes,” Tasha explains. She doesn’t seem to want to look me in the eyes for some reason. Well, what I did was very suspect… I need to be more careful for the rest of camp.

“Darn, I overslept,” I say. “Better get moving!” 

These three were my roommates for Spring Break church camp. Tasha and Maria I knew from school. Tasha is a bespectacled black girl with wavy hair that she usually keeps tied up. Maria is a plump hispanic girl with a whole lot of hair that trails behind her back and always gets blown around in the wind. Kimmie is the only one in our room who’s not from El Dorado. She’s also black, and small in stature, with hair that seems to naturally keep itself tidy around her shoulders. Being the only white girl in the room is a bit unusual, given that my city is over 60% white. But still, there are weirder things…

You’re probably wondering why you’re seeing this. The truth is, I don’t really know either. Nothing really makes sense right now. 

Anyway, Kimmie and I are able to get ourselves dressed and ready, and we make our way to lunch. The cafeteria is a short walk away from the cabin we’re staying in. We’re served fruit and crappy scrambled eggs. On the back wall is a “list of sins” provided by our camp, which for some retarded reason contains “ _ Dungeons & Dragons _ .”

Oh right, I can’t say that, it’s a slur. Well, I didn’t know that when I was in sixth grade, so sorry.

“Hey Maria, do you want to trade your peach for my banana?” I ask her as we sit down. No response.

I look over at her, and she has her eyes closed and she’s mouthing something… Oh, duh, she’s saying grace. Forgot about that...

“Oops, sorry about that…” I whisper.

“Am I the only one who’s starting to get a bit homesick?” Kimmie says as she sits down herself. 

“No, you’re not,” Tasha says, having just finished saying grace herself.

“I am looking forward to getting back to practicing,” I say as I start shoveling scrambled eggs into my mouth. They taste just as bad now as they have all week.

“Practicing what?” Kimmie asks, curious.

“Oh, my french horn!” I explain. “I need to get back to that ASAP, because I’m the best player in my grade. I’m already able to hit a high G. Of course, I’m already really good at reading music because of my training on piano. I had to learn to transpose, but that’s not really that hard. So I was able to learn how to play a lot quicker than the rest of the class. Most of the other kids have difficulty hitting the right harmonics, but like…”

“Um, Ashley?” Tasha interrupts me. “You do realize that none of us are in band, right?”

“So?”

“So, we… don’t really care that much.”

I look at the other two to back me up, but they’re concentrated on eating their food. 

“Alright, fine,” I say. To recover from the awkward moment, I start peeling my banana. It’s already all bruised…

Why’d she have to be a bitch and cut me off like that, huh? I don’t care about half of the shit that Anja rambles about, but I still listen, now do I?

Well… I guess the cases are a bit different. Anja rambles on about stuff because she just really feels strongly about it. I was doing it to try and boost my own ego… I guess I was kind of being a bitch too. 

What does it matter, though? I’ve changed since then.

* * *

 

I’m laying on my back on the floor. I feel something small standing on my stomach. I open my eyes to see Ted peering over me. 

“Hey, watch where you stick your face!” I shout in surprise, sitting up and knocking him off. 

“My apologies. I did not mean anything by it.”

I get to my feet and try and take in my surroundings. I’m in some sort of hallway, with three different ways to go. Like in the previous chamber, the floor is covered by a red carpet, and there are paintings on the wall with solid gold frames that depict angelic beings, which are thankfully not as creepy as those damn statues. 

“Where are the other two? Anja and Nova?” Ted asks.

Anja and Nova… they… oh fuck.

I whirl around, and I see a door just like the one we entered through.

“How did I get here?” I ask him.

“Just now, you walked in through that door and collapsed onto the floor,” he explains. 

“I… did? So, how did you get in here? Where were you in the last chamber?”

“The last chamber?” he asks, frowning. “The front door led directly to this room…”

“No, it didn’t. The three of us ended up in this endless hallway… we tried to get to the end, but the other two went insane… I think I might have a little bit too.”

I reach for the door and try to open it. It won’t budge.

“FUCK!” I shout, kicking the door in anger. “We have to get them out of there, Ted.”

“I know. It sounds like the room is cursed in some way. We must look around for a way to deactivate the curse.” And without further ado, he starts down the left hallway.

“Hold the fuck up,” I say, following after him. “What makes you think we can just… turn this off? How were we able to get through it and not them, anyway?”

“Well, how did you get through it?”

That’s a good question. I try to remember what happened…

“I just… kept walking. And for some reason I started thinking about… um… something that happened earlier in my life.”

“What emotions did that bring up within you?”

“...Why? What’s with the impromptu therapy session?” I ask, as we turn a corner.

“It may be important to understand the curse.”

“Well, okay. Basically, I… lost all of my friends a few years back, before moving here. And I always thought it was because of one reason, because of something that wasn’t my fault. But then… well, I kind of realized there might have been a different reason too.”

“And what reason was that?”

“Well… I used to be pretty self-absorbed. I imagine that it got on their nerves. Maybe if I hadn’t been like that, they would’ve stuck up for me. Or maybe not. I’ll never know, I guess.”

“And you don’t believe yourself to be self-absorbed anymore?”

“No… and what exactly do you mean by that question, mister?”

However, he suddenly comes to a halt and shushes me, pointing in front of us. 

In front of us, there’s an opening to a large room, with a massive chandelier. In the room, I see two large figures, which, like everything else here, gleam with gold. (Why does everything in the Metaverse have to have a matching color scheme? Well, at least it’s prettier than the purple/red outside…)

“You think we can take them?” I whisper to him.

“We don’t know anything about these shadows. I have no way of knowing.”

“Well, it’s like my mom always says. If you don’t try, the answer is always ‘no’...”

He looks apprehensive, but nods in agreement anyway.

And so we march out into the hall. Now that I get a better look at them, they appear like knights of some sort. Like me, they’re covered in armor, though they also have metallic heads, making them a bit more robotic. They’re over double my height, they must be about thirteen feet tall.  Naturally, they notice Ted and I as we stride into the room.

“Ah, look who’s come to pay a visit. Are you two members of our fan club?” One of them says as he turns towards us. His voice sounds like a typical human baritone voice, except slightly roboticized, like he was put through bad autotune. 

“We’re looking for a way to free our friends from whatever curse that chamber put on them,” I announce. “I’m open to your suggestions. Otherwise, stand aside or be destroyed.”

“That’s very funny,” the other one says, yet he says it in a flat voice. “So, you two survived the Chamber of Judgement, eh? Very impressive. I hope you learned a thing or two about your sins.”

“I don’t have time for your damn small talk,” I snap at them. “Just step aside if you’re not going to be helpful.”

“I’m sorry, who are you supposed to be? Some teenage girl thinks she’s Joan of Arc or something.”

“You know what, I think I’ve seen this girl before! She was on one of those Japanese cartoons!”

These two have officially annoyed me, which means it’s time for battle.

It’s been like forty pages since I’ve actually fought something (more than that if you’re ready this on RR,) so I need to review what my Persona can do. First of all, being in this world grants me a noticeable buff to strength, speed, and durability. Not like I’m not good at those things normally (marching band really gives you some nice thighs), but here they’re better. I also have some sort of magic attack that can temporarily slow down opponents, though I’m not sure how useful that’s going to be at the moment. I probably have other abilities, but for the most part I’ve been focused on swordplay. However, I can’t help but worry that swords won’t do much against these walking armor mechs…

I figure it makes sense to start with divide and conquer, so I take the one on the left. He doesn’t seem to have any weapons, but given the size of this thing I don’t particularly want to be punched by him.

“Oh what, are you going to fight me? Ah, kids these days. There’s so many things that they don’t understand…” And without any further warning, he kicks out its foot straight at me, which I’m only narrowly able to dodge. 

This thing is surprisingly agile, so I’m going to need to keep my distance and look for a weak point. While he is still off balance from the kick, I run forward and slash the other leg, mostly to test the sword’s effectiveness. It does scratch the armor, but it doesn’t seem to be as effective as I would’ve wanted. I run out of the way in time to avoid the counter punch.

“What are you going to do with that puny thing? You can’t penetrate me!” He taunts.

This is immensely frustrating to me… surely I must have something up my sleeve.

He aims a big punch at me. I try to stop it with my hand, but I end up just being knocked back straight against a wall, where I fall onto the floor on my butt. 

Then, my foe begins to do something troubling. His eyes start glowing, and he speaks in a terrible voice, one which is his own layered with other, lower pitched voices: “Have a taste of your final fate!”

He claps his hands in front of him, which released a shockwave of bright white light that shoots straight for me and… I feel absolutely nothing.

“Hmm. My final fate actually isn’t looking too bad,” I mock, jumping to my feet. I notice that some of the light has lingered around me, seemingly circling around, and this gives me an idea. Struck by inexplicable inspiration, I reach out my hand towards him, shooting the light back at him like a whip… and then I clench my fist.

This does noticeably more to help my cause than the sword did. He gives a surprised grunt and stumbles backwards. I can now see dents all across his armor. I am pleased at this, but it also seems like my spell was a limited time offer- the light around me has entirely diminished. 

In addition, it seems like I pissed him off. He starts attacking me with serious vigor. I duck and roll out of the way of a punch, then sidestep a kick, but the third time’s the charm, and I caught in the back of the head with a punch so strong that I would’ve lost a significant number of brain cells has this been the regular world. I also get knocked flat on my face, and in the shock of the blow I lose my grip on the sword and it clatters onto the floor. 

He sticks his metal foot on my back. Well, that just won’t do at all, now will it?

I push myself, and it seems like I’m able to throw him off balance purely based on the element of surprise. Without any time to think of a plan, I end up just blinding running into him like a savage and wrapping my arms around his neck from behind.

He repeatedly punches my arms, but I ignore the pain and focus on trying to hear his stupid head off. For a brief, idiotic moment, I get an image in my mind of a scene from SpongeBob…

He runs backwards and slams me straight into the wall with extreme force, then steps back forward. This crushes my body so hard that I feel like a crumpled up newspaper, and I collapse straight onto the floor yet again. 

He turns around for another attack, but then is interrupted by a huge blast of fire which sends him flying into the wall. Looks like Ted saved my ass yet again…

“You can finish him off!” Ted shouts. I look over, and he moving his hand towards me as if caressing the air… A warm feeling fills me, and I feel a considerable amount of my previous pain fade away…

The other knight recovers, and Ted has to divert his attention back to him. I jump to my feet and turn to face my own, who is also getting back on his feet. Somehow, I feel like I was more than just healed… I feel lighter as well.

“You can kiss my shiny metal ass!” The knight yells at me, incensed.

“I’m not much of an ass-kisser,” I explain. “I prefer to make my own way in life.”

He charges towards me, but with my increased agility I’m able to handily jump to the side… I pick up my sword from the floor, and furiously slash at him… maybe now that he’s been weakened, I’ll be able to finish him off the old fashioned way…

He aims another punch, but I sway to the left, jump into the air and stab my sword straight into his chest. I catch an existing dent just right and manage to puncture straight through. The momentum carries us straight forward, until the sword gets partially buried into the wall. The force of the collision also sends me stumbling backwards. 

Surprisingly, I see blood begin to pour from where I cut through him. He seems remarkably unperturbed by this, showing no emotion other than pouting that he lost. 

“Hold on a sec!” I hear Ted call from behind me. I turn to see him dashing towards me on all fours. The other knight is nowhere to be seen, so he must have already won his side of the fight.

“While he is still alive, we can get information out of him!” Ted suggests, as he sidles up next to me and gets back on his hind legs. 

I turn back towards my defeated foe. “Alright, have any helpful advice now, dipshit?”

“The curse of the chamber can be deactivated using a hand of blessing,” he explains.

“Okay. Where do I get one of those?”

He gives me a bewildered look. “You can’t be serious. Do you know anything at all?”

I grab the handle of the sword and twist it further into him, causing more blood and bits of organ to spew out (which is really gross). I was hoping this would hurt him, but he once again doesn’t really have a reaction to it, he just continues to look at me all condescending.

“You used it on me during our duel!” he elaborates. “Honestly, child… Can you not see what is right in front of you?”

After this, he starts to fade away… though it’s a little bit different than it usually is when the shadows usually fade. Instead of evaporating into the air around him, his form condenses into a dark, ghostly form, which then proceeds to fly upwards, through the ceiling and out of sight.


	21. It Explodes (September 1- Part 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> December 17, 2019: Changed "says" to "has" at one part.

<Nova>

This sucks. What a load of bullshit this is. What do I mean by “this?” Why, life of course. 

Everyone always says to follow your dreams and make something of yourself… But what do you make of yourself if you don’t have any dreams? What if your whole life is just numbing yourself enough to bear waking up the next day?

Well… I’m probably being overly dramatic. But it’s hard not to be when you’ve not accomplished much of anything. Everyone always says I could be good in school if I just _tried_ … but when I do try, I still can’t seem to figure anything out. Not much point in trying, then. So whenever I’m forced to sit and reflect for a while, it seems to me like the only way to win the game is to not play.

I hear footsteps… Or is it just my imagination? 

“Nova. Why are on the ground?”

Oh. No, they’re real footsteps. I look up to see Anja, stumbling towards me like she just woke up in a hangover or something.

“Where did Ashley go?” She asks me as I get to my feet.

“She ran off.”

“...She ran off? Why?”

“We were being useless.”

Anja chuckles. “Oh Ashley… always so pushy.”

“She said that you had gone loony.”

“...She said that?”

“Yeah.”

She rubs her eyes. “Well… Maybe I did. I remember walking down this really long chamber… then I was just sort of on the ground and everyone was gone! I don’t remember what happened.”

That’s weird. I remember everything that happened… but I don’t really want to tell her about that, so I’ll play along.

I look around… we’re still in the same room, but in front of me I can see a door… are we back at the entrance? I turn around and there’s another door… Wait, what?

“I remember this place being a lot bigger,” Anja comments, looking around herself. “Well… let’s take advantage of this opportunity and get to the exit. It’s that one, that’s the direction I came from.”

“Isn’t magic a bunch of fucking bullshit?” I say, because it is.

“Yep,” she agrees.

So we make our way across the rest of the way to the exit, and ended up in a different corridor. Ashley is already there, leaning against a wall like she’s about to fall asleep. Surprisingly, Ted is there too.

“And where have you two been?” Anja questions.

“Oh, you know…” Ashley explains. “You guys took a while, so I took a nap… got up… fought some monsters… went to Starbucks… took the PSAT…”

“Well, I hope that you’ll _bedazzle_ everyone with your scores.”

“...What?”

“Oh right. You guys are freshmen, you don’t get that joke.”

“And what about the armadillo dude?” I ask Ashley.

“That’s the weird part… he apparently was here the whole time.”

“Nova says that you said that I went cuckoo,” Anja explains.

“Yeah, you did. You started rambling about ‘the evil,’ and how it was too powerful and it would swallow us whole, or something like that.”

Anja giggles at this. “Haha, I did go cuckoo… what the hell was I talking about?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“So did you free us from… whatever magic bullshit that was, then?” I ask. “How did you manage that?”

“Angel powers,” Ashley says simply. She puts her right hand in front of her, showing us her palm, which starts glowing a bright white.

“Whoa! Where did you learn how to do that?”

“A monster I fought try to use a beam of light as an attack on me, but it didn’t work… and then I discovered that I can do the same thing.”

“Well, aren’t you special,” Anja remarks.

“Anyways... I know the the left path leads to a dead end, so we can go right or forward,” Ashley explains.

“Let’s go right,” I suggest. “Forward is probably progress.”

“Wait… first of all, how do you know that? Second of all, if forward is progress, we should go that way.”

“No, we should explore all other paths first. We might learn something useful.”

“Like what???”

“Like… I don’t know, something that can help us during battle.”

“He has a point,” Anja interjects, and I feel very grateful for her. “You wandering off on your own led to you figuring out how to use those… ‘bless’ powers or whatever.”

“Well, nice theory, but wandering around looking for fights to get into sounds like a waste of time to me, given that we came here to fight one specific person…” And with that, she starts walking forward, evidently not giving a shit what we think.

“Hey, who died and made you queen?” I shout at her as she walks away. She ignores me. Anja shrugs and follows after her. Looks like we don’t have a choice.

After about a minute or so, we come across another door. Ashley tries to open it with a push, but it’s a no sell.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” she says. She puts her hand on the door, and closes her eyes. Her hand palm starts emitting a pure white glow… And the door opens.

We walk into the next room and… oh boy. This is not going to be fun.

It’s a courtroom, which is already not bringing back great memories. But there’s a twist… everything is made out of white marble (of course,) and everything is also way larger than normal, making us feel like insects in comparison.

“Very subtle,” Ashley comments. “I’ve noticed a theme here… this place seems to like making you small and powerless.”

“Well, it won’t work on me!” Anja asserts. “I’m used to being smaller than everyone else! And it does nothing to quell my rage…”

“I second that,” Ted interjects. “I was a powerful human, but I am even more powerful now, as an armadillo.”

“Wait, you used to be human?” I ask.

“Alright… let’s cut it out with the chit chat,” Ashley nags. “There could be enemies nearby. Let’s get a move on.”

But as the four of us walk through the center aisle, we don’t see a soul, enemy or otherwise. An ominous quiet hangs over the court. As we reach the front where the judge would normally sit, Ashley turns around to face us.

“There isn’t a single thing in this room,” she observes. “So what’s the point of it?”

“There’s probably a boss fight coming up,” I tell her.

“A boss fight… Oh, I see. You’re thinking about this as if it were a video game.”

“I mean, it could be one.”

Ashley shakes her head. “No, Nova. We are not inside of a video game. I can assure you of that much.”

“Sometimes I like to think that I’m the star of my own TV show,” Anja comments, grinning. “I find myself internally narrating my life…”

“You think that _you’re_ the main character?” Ashley says in reply. “That’s really cute.”

“What? Why can’t I be?”

Right at that moment, we are interrupted by _smack_ that is so loud that it feels like the air is split in two. I quickly cover my ears, feeling dazed by the noise. Ashley winces, and then starts frantically looking around to find the source. Anja is so surprised that she falls over onto the ground.

“What the hell was that?” I shout at nobody in particular.

Ted points off to the side of the witness stand and says, "I do believe that the 'boss' is here."

I look in the direction he's pointing and lay eyes on one of the grossest things I've ever seen: Pavia, except like fifty feet tall.

"Oh, _shit!_ " Ashley curses, looking annoyed at this turn of events.

“Court is in session,” he says, his voice magnified so that it booms across the room. “The defendants will now take the stand…”

And before we can do anything about it, we’re all involuntarily hovering upwards into the air, so quickly that my vision is temporarily blurred. However, after a few seconds we are plopped straight down onto the desk in front of where the witness would normally sit. Somehow, in the intervening time, Pavia has made his way over to the center.

“Now... the defendants will state their charges,” he explains. Being right next to him, his voice is loud loud that it’s making my ears ring.

“Um, no, you’re the judge here,” Ashley snaps at him. “That’s your job. Why don’t you tell us what we are being charged with?”

“Do not be impudent… you were able to exit the chamber. That means that you must be ready to confess.”

“Confess to what exactly? I haven’t done jack diddly shit. I’m just trying to survive this bitch of an Earth, all the while being supportive to my girlfriend, who is being fucked in the ass by collectivist society, as well as being in marching band, and maintaining all A’s in school, and practicing multiple musical instruments to maintain my excellent musical standards in upcoming auditions and performances, _and_ kicking your ass.”

Anja, who for some reason is still laying on the ground, giggles at her.

“You should not have exited the chamber!” Pavia shouts at her. “You are clearly still unaware of your crimes…”

“Dude, will you shut the fuck up?” I yell at him, unable to stand his overly loud voice any longer.

He looks down at me. “How dare you speak to me that way, you… rapscallion!”

“You’re being really fucking loud! Would you mind keeping your voice down!” I shout back.

“You are nothing but a bunch of ungrateful children… This is what happens when you let incapable parents reproduce. Screaming children who don’t know what’s good for them…”

“I know what’s good for me: Never being forced to look at your nose hairs again!”

“I demand… Order!” He grabs his gavel and slams it down, which not only makes yet another loud clacking sound, but a bright flash of light that temporarily blinds me.

“Umm… Nova?” Ashley says in a lower voice, as my vision starts to come back into focus. “I don’t know if you realize this, but… you don’t have your Persona yet.”

“So?”

“So… you really shouldn’t be the one picking fights right now.”

“I don’t care. I do what I want.”

“Damn it, Nova. _You don’t have the ability to fight yet_. You’re kind of useless to us right now. Don’t make this situation worse.”

“You’re a real bitch, you know that?”

“Yes.”

“He was probably just going to do that anyway,” Anja jumps in, finally getting to her feet. “Look over there!”

I look to the part of the desk in front of Pavia himself, where some enemies have finally spawned. I see three extremely tall knights in golden armor, as well as a couple of strange winged creatures that I can’t get a good look at on either side. 

“Escort these back to the chamber. They need more time to mull over their crimes…” Pavia order the enemies, as he gets up from the desk and stomps back to the door.

“We’re outnumbered… this isn’t good,” Ashley says. “Those golden men are like the ones I fought. They’re weak to fire and bless, but resist physical attacks.”

“Um, Ashley… that means nothing to me,” Anja says, nervously getting into a battle stance. 

And before I know it, the other three have charged off into battle. Ashley immediately uses that white hand shit she has to weaken one of the armored guys. Ted starts using his pistol to try to shoot down the winged ones, who on closer inspected are vaguely cat like humans with wings coming out of their heads… freaky. This leaves the other two armored guys to gang up on Anja. She’s shooting them with all she’s got, but while the bullets are punching holes all over their armor, it’s not doing much to slow them down… This is painful to watch. 

The two are moving faster than it looks like they should. Anja’s trying her best to duck and dodge around them, but it’s hard when there’s two of them. Before long she’s been kicked off to the side…

I can’t stand it anymore, so I run out towards her. However, when I’m halfway there, I feel something pick me up by the collar of my shirt. I am lifted up by one of the ones who was just attacking Anja, who brings me face to face with himself. 

“You don’t even have an awakened Persona yet,” he tells me. “Do you have any sense at all?”

“Let me down… you fucking… bastard… bitch-ass…” But my shirt collar is pressing against my neck, and it’s suffocating me… 

“Or what, exactly? Are you going to keep swearing at me? That’s typical of children like you...”

From behind him, I see a huge blast of fire knock one of the others down and into the back of the one holding me, who shouts and tosses me in front of him as he loses his balance. I land flat on my ass right next to where Anja is laying. 

I take this opportunity to immediately roll over and look over her. She’s conscious, but her face is scrunched up in pain…

“Are you okay? I ask.

“Uh… Owie… Got me right in the stomach… Nova, I… Didn’t study for the test…”

“What? What do you mean?”

She doesn’t say anything else, and just grimaces at me.

I get to my feet and whirl around to make sure I’m not being snuck up on. I see Ashley nearby, the two winged creatures flying around her head like two extremely large angry bees. The knights are currently preoccupied with Ted, who is making use of his small size to run into between each of their legs, causing the three to stumble around in confusion.

“You just gonna stand there?” Ashley gripes at me, trying to swat them out of the air with her sword.

“This is your fault, you know that?” I yell at her, suddenly understand what Anja was trying to tell me. “None of us were prepared for this at all! We should’ve done more exploring like I said!”

“All you’ve done this whole time is bitch at me about this and that,” she retorts, finally landing a hit on one of them and knocking it backwards. “What are you going to do about it?”

I’m so mad… I ought to show her...

* * *

 

[I see a figure standing across from me. It’s… no way… it can’t be...]

[“Chris Hemworth?” I ask. “Is that you?”]

[“Um… uh… I do not know of this ‘Chris Hemsworth’ fellow… I am your Persona.”]

[“Oh.”]

[“It seems that you are tired of having no say over your own life, and are finally ready to take matters into your own hands… a wise decision. You have proven yourself worthy to wield my power!”]

[“Cool.”]

[“Um… Alrighty then. Carry on.”]

[“Okay.”]

* * *

 

I know instantly, when I begin trembling, that it must be happening… the awakening of my Persona. I feel a mask on my face, and I tear it off. It sucks, but I know I had to do that to get my fighting abilities. Then, my clothes change around me… I’m wearing a long, golden robe, and some weird thing on my head that I can’t see. But what excites me most is the huge steel hammer I’m now holding in my right hand…

In front of me, Ashley is making an unusual face at me… She’s smirking?

“I thought that all you needed was a push…” she says.


	22. Responsible (September 1- Part 4)

<Nova>

I get a chance to test my new abilities almost immediately. Ted runs straight past me, which means that the two golden knights are following right behind him… wait a minute, weren’t there three? What happened to the third one?

Anyways, since I have the hammer, I’m assuming that I must have some sort of electricity attack as well. Going by Pokémon logic, it should hit at least neutrally.

I raise my hammer into the air, and sure enough, it begins crackling with sparks. I bring it down, and a huge crash of lightning is brought down right on one of their heads! The one I hit is fried, he falls to the floor and dissipates into shadow.

The other one stops in his tracks and looks at me. “Ah, there it is! Quite the bombastic opening, but I hope you know how to follow it up!” 

“You bet I do!” I shout back, even though that’s kind of a lie because I don’t know what other powers I have.

He runs towards me with surprising speed, so much so that I’m caught off guard and don’t have time to guard against a punch that hits me smack in the face and… just kind of bounces off. Ha! I’m awesome.

“What in God’s name is this?” the knight yells, recoiling from the punch.

“It’s your doom!” I shout back. Emboldened, I run forwards, take a huge leap into the air, and club right across the face with my hammer, which sends him staggering backwards.

As much fun as that was, when I land back on my feet I notice that it didn’t seem to do much. There’s a big dent in his helmet where I hit him, but otherwise it mostly seems to just have annoyed him. Wait, didn’t Ashley say that they resisted physical…?

Then, he starts doing something new. His eyes begin glowing, and he claps both of his hands out in front of him, which shoots a wave of whiteness at me, and it feels like I’m on fire…

* * *

 

<Ashley>

The few seconds I stopped to see Nova’s transformation, the winged cherubim is on me. These assholes have proved to be quite evasive. I finally managed to get rid of one of them, but now the other one is clawing all over my body, somehow always just out of my reach…

Then, with one last shove, I’m on the floor, the thing standing over me, staring at me with its creepy, vaguely human face.

“You know, for a heavenly being, you really are a piece of shit,” I tell it.

It raises its paw to deal a final blow, but then I hear a gunshot and the cherub shrieks in pain as blood starts pouring out of the wings attached to its head… and onto my face. Great.

I push it off and roll over onto my front. I see that the one who fired was Ted. Anja is still laying on the floor a few yards behind him.

“I never miss a shot,” he gloats, looking proud of himself.

“Thanks for the help. Can you use that healing move on Anja?”

“Not right now… I used up my magic fighting the golden ones.”

“You used it up?”

“That’s right.”

I push myself up with my arms, which is rather difficult given that they’re all bruised by my winged assaulters, and get to my feet. I look around and see Nova fighting the last of the knights.

“What in God’s name is this?” It shouts at him.

“It’s your doom!” Nova yells back at it, which makes me roll me eyes. He needs to work on his one-liners.

“Think we should go help him out?” I ask Ted.

“I don’t know what we can do for him. My fire attack were very effective, but now that my magic is depleted…”

“Don’t worry, I have something up my own sleeve,” I assure him.

I turn back just in time to watch Nova get blasted in the face by one of those light attacks that the other guy tried on me. Unfortunately, it looks like Nova isn’t taking it as well as I did, so I think it’s time for me to intervene.

I run towards him and stick out my hand, just like before, and shoot a beam of light straight into him. It cracks his armor some like before… but it didn’t seem to do nearly as much, for some reason.

“Really?” I say to it. “You’re still standing after that?”

“You kids really don’t know anything,” he taunts back. “That attack you just did cuts your opponent’s life force in half… which means that it’s not going to do nearly as much now when I’ve already weakened. Honestly, you walk in here not even knowing your own moves, with a kid who doesn’t even have a Persona yet?”

“I don’t want to hear it. Perish,” I say, preparing my sword to finish it off. However, it moves faster than me that clocks me right over the head.

* * *

 

<Anja>

Ugh… Today is not my day, friends. I wake up feeling dizzy, and like I’m about to throw up. What on earth happened?

I open my eyes, blinking at the light. Ashley, Nova and Ted are laying around me. It looks like we were all just kind of dropped onto the floor. I look around more, and see that we’re no longer in that courtroom, but instead back in the opening chamber. 

Ashley is out cold, her armor torn by several scratches, and her face covered in blood. Nova is out too, but he’s now dressed in what looks like the clothes of a king, with a golden robe and matching gold layered headdress. I deduce that he must have awakened his Persona during the last fight. I look over at Ted, who actually still seems to be conscious.

“Hey little buddy,” I say. “I’ll heal you, if you heal me…”

“I ain’t got nothing left,” he growls. “Heal the other two so we can get out of here.”

“Get out of here?” Then, it dawns on me; we must be back here because we lost. 

I crawl over to Nova and put my hand on him. I do that thing I did earlier, and he wakes up. He doesn’t say anything at first, his eyes just flit around confusedly. 

I do the same for Ashley, though I’m somewhat apprehensive because I have a sneaking suspicion that she’s going to wake up with some Opinions™.

“What are we back here for? Awh, shit!” Nova moans, catching up with recent events.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Ashley starts, getting into a sitting up position. “If we lost the battle… why are we still… in the palace? Why wouldn’t he just eject us?”

“He wanted us to ‘confess our crimes,’ or whatever,” Nova explains. “He probably wanted us to go through that freaky mind shit again.”

“Well, that’s not going to work, since I deactivated the chamber’s curse already,” Ashley says.

“We’re lucky we’re still alive,” Ted interjects. “Most villains woulda just snuffed us on the spot.”

“Well, isn’t that nice of him,” I joke. “I guess in his own twisted way, he really does just want us to be better human beings.”

“Is that why every enemy in this palace makes fun of us?” Nova asks.

“Uh… Yeah… Maybe… Kinda,” is the best answer I can give.

“Well, we better go finish it off,” Ashley says, getting to her feet. “No time like the present.”

“Ashley, if I try to get up right now, I’m going to lose my lunch,” I tell her. “Not like it’d be a huge loss, that chicken was all soggy…”

“You wouldn’t happen to have any new healing powers, do you?” Ashley asks Nova.

“Dude, if we just walk around back there again, we’re going to get our asses kicked again!” Nova argues.

“No, I don’t think so. We already know what to expect, and you have your Persona now. We’ll just do it better this time.”

“Really? When half of the party is barely conscious, and we’ve only been healed partially thanks to Anja?”

“Well, what do you suggest we do about it?”

“These Persona things aren’t our actually bodies, right? That means we should be healed when we leave. So if we come back here tomorrow, we’ll be fresh and ready to finish it off.”

“That’s funny. You were the one who was ramming my ass last week to get this done. Now you want to put it off.”

“Ashley, I think he has a point,” I interject. “We’re not getting anything done in our current state.”

Ashley sighs heavily, but doesn’t say anything.

“You know, we didn’t ask you to just decide everything for us,” Nova chides her. He’s clearly very angry- he’s glaring at Ashley and making stressed hand gestures. Ashley isn’t fazed though, she just stares back at him. “We weren’t prepared for that at all. We should’ve done what I suggested and spent more time looking around. For one, if I had a Persona going into the fight, we would’ve had much better odds, and I wouldn’t have had to stand there and watch Anja get her ass beat while I couldn’t do jack shit. For another, the types of enemies we see here seem to be pretty consistent, so more experience fighting them can only be a good thing.”

“Or maybe all of the extra fighting would’ve just tired us out,” Ashley counters.

“But doesn’t our fighting get better the more experience we get?” I add. “Maybe we could’ve even spent time outside of this palace training ourselves.”

“Well, actually... “ Ashley sighs once again. “I think Lucy might’ve mentioned something about that, yes.”

“Well, how does it feel being wrong for the first time in your whole life?” Nova taunts.

“Oh, shut your fucking mouth.”

“Well, I do think it’s important that we start making decisions more democratically from here on out,” I say, trying to defuse the situation. “Can you agree to that, Ashley?”

“Fine. Whatever.”

“Also, uh… can someone help me to my feet?”

* * *

 

<Ashley>

All things considered, I arrived home that afternoon in poor spirits. Zoe’s nowhere to be seen when I first walk in, maybe she’s taking a shower. My parents are in the living room, having a very odd conversation.

“If you were born with green eyes,” my dad is saying as I walk in, “you could, in theory, hide this fact by spending your life wearing colored contact lens.”

“Yeah, but why should you have to?” my mom counters, surprisingly passionate about this subject. “Wouldn’t it feel dirty, just spending your whole life hiding what your true eye color is? That kind of thing can have bad effects on someone’s mind.”

“Well, that’s true. So it’d have to be worth the pain and effort of hiding it. If having green eyes is a sin against God, that would make it worth it.”

“Sure, but how can having green eyes be a sin against God, if God gave you green eyes?”

“Hmm. That’s a good point.”

“Um, Dad? Don’t you have brown eyes?” I ask, leaning against the wall behind them. “Why is this even relevant to you?”

“I technically have hazel eyes,” Dad responds, taking off his glasses and fiddling with them. “Of course, most people can’t tell the difference.”

“I didn’t see you come in, how was it with your friends?” Mom asks, turning around to face me.

Let’s see… I got mind raped, then had to fight a dude twice my height by myself, then had to listen to Anja and Nova bitch at me, then got yelled at by a giant version of Pavia, then got my ass kicked.

“Oh, it was great. Utterly fantastic.”

“Um… good to hear?” My mom replies uncertainly.

“Where’s Zoe at?”

“I believe she was taking a shower,” my dad says.

“She still using my stuff?”

“Yes. Your mother and I have tried repeatedly to reason with her parents, but they have been unduly frustrating. They have not expressed a desire for their daughter to return home, but also seem unwilling to let us collect her things. In other words, we are in the least convenient situation possible.”

“I have a hunch that they’re worried about what the neighbors will think when they see us getting all of her stuff,” my mom adds. “You know, I’ve always thought that her parents were nice people, but…” She doesn’t finish that thought, she just kind of stares off into space after that.

I exit the living room. Zoe must be in back in her room by now, because the door is closed and the lights are on. I knock on the door, just in case. 

“Just one minute!” I hear her say. A short while later, Zoe answers the door, wearing one of my old band camp shirts (which is a bit big on her.) As soon as she sees me, she pulls me into a deep hug and buries her face into my chest.

I have noticed that she seems to be having a bit of… separation anxiety since that one thing happened. On one hand, the endorphins I get from it are kind of nice. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to be physically close with someone. On the other hand… I’m worried about her.

I close the door behind me, and we both go sit down on her bed.

“Did you do it?” she asks me in a low voice.

“Not quite… we ended up having to leave and regroup. We’re going to finish the job tomorrow.”

“Is it really dangerous in there?” she asks, looking up at me with wide eyes.

“Um… we ran into a few foes, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle.”

She lays the side of her face on my shoulder. “You’re so tough, Ashley. I’ve always… loved that about you.”

A brief pause, and then I hear her phone vibrate. She grabs it and starts typing something.

“Who are you talking to?”

“Collin. We’ve been trying to stay in touch.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good for him.”

“He’s also telling me about what’s going on at home. He says that our parents are… worried. They keep talking in whispers to each other.”

“Worried because they’re remorseful, or because they’re just afraid of any backlash they may get?” I ask, remembering what my mom said.

“I don’t know…” she starts blinking rapidly, her jaw clenched. “I’ve been trying to be tough, too. But it’s really hard… After what happened. It’s just too much for me sometimes. It feels so awful, it’s like… like…”

“Like you’re in a pit of darkness and nobody will ever love you again?”

“Um… yeah, like that. Well, not exactly. You still love me… don’t you?”

“Of course I do. You don’t even need to ask silly questions like that.”

She smiles a little. “And your parents have been nice to me… I’m very grateful for you all.” 

I still can’t help but to find myself wishing that there was something else I could do, too. 

Well… I don’t know, maybe there is. Lucy made it clear to me that this whole Metaverse thing is going to be ongoing. Maybe in the course of our operations there, I can find some way to help her? Or at least stop things from getting worse? Of course, I have no clue what that would be…

Ah well. I need to just focus on finishing up helping out Nova for now anyway. Once we get through this… then maybe we’ll have a conversation about our next step.

“Um… Ashley?” Zoe says softly, cutting off my train of thought. “W-with region jazz coming in less than two weeks… can you help me with something?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t quite understand something your mom said about the improvisation… and we have another lesson tomorrow. Why is it that I’m supposed to use the blues scale… but I can also play a d natural… but only sometimes?”

And… well, I think you get the idea. From there we just do our usual practicing/homework and stuff. Next time… we’re going to start bringing this little saga to a close. (Hopefully. Unless we fuck it up again.)


	23. Blood Count (September 2- Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! Sorry that it’s taken me so long. I got super busy around early November and I’ve been really tired. If you’re still reading, thanks for sticking around. I would like to get through to the end of this arc in a relatively timely manner. Of course, that won’t be the end of Deep In The Heart… I have much more planned for the future. Though the arc with Pavia is coming to a close, another threat looms that has yet to fully be addressed... But for now, let’s push on ahead.

<Zoe>

A silver lining in everything that has happened is that my saxophone lessons are now much less of a hassle to get to, now that I literally live in the same house as the teacher. It’s a pretty thin lining, but I’m trying to look for anything I can to keep myself going.

It would’ve been nice to get a break from everything else to process things, but school and band do not stop. Even if I’ve been suddenly uprooted from the home I’ve lived in for almost fifteen years, living off of my best fr- my  _ girlfriend _ ’s utilities and even needing to use some of her clothes, which don’t quite fit me. For some reason, talks between our parents don’t seem to be going well. It apparently took quite a bit of negotiation just to get my school things and instruments here. 

As hard as it is to do, I need to put that out of my mind for right now. I need to focus on our lesson… I need to remember what Ashley told me yesterday. I can play a D natural, but only over the I chord. I shouldn’t play it over the IV, unless it’s as a chromatic passing tone, because it’s too dissonant. I can play it over the V, but…

Ms. Davis is stopping me. 

“You look like you’re concentrating really hard on this.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Loosen up. You know how to improvise over this, I’ve heard you. You need to trust yourself. Be confident.”

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” She sighs. “God bless you, Zoe. I can only imagine you’ve had a lot on your mind recently.”

I don’t say anything to that.

“The truth is, I’ve had a lot on my mind recently as well.”

“You have?”

“Yes…” For a few seconds, she doesn’t say anything. She just stares off into space. Then, she asks me, “Do you know who Billy Strayhorn is?”

I think about this. “Um… I think I’ve seen his name on my music in jazz band before.”

She grins. “I’d be surprised if you hadn’t. He’s one of the most famous jazz composers of all time. He worked closely alongside Duke Ellington.”

“Oh!”

There’s another pause. Then, she says, “Strayhorn was openly gay.”

This surprises me so much that I almost cut my lip on my reed. “He was?”

“Yep. And this was way back in the day, before I was born. I don’t even think Stonewall had happened yet.”

I don’t know what that is, but she continues on before I can ask.

 “The others in the Ellington band knew that. They didn’t care, they all loved him. He passed away in… 1967. Of cancer. The band was devastated. They dedicated an album to him afterwards.”

There’s a few more seconds of silence. I don’t know what to add. I’m not even sure why she’s telling me this, to be honest.

“While in the hospital, he wrote one final song- ‘Blood Count.’ The Ellington band played it on their tribute album. In the middle, there’s an alto saxophone solo- I believe it was played by Johnny Hodges. They say that partway through the solo, you can hear the exact moment that he breaks down in sadness over what happened. You can hear it in his sound…”

She trails off yet again. I look at her, and I’m surprised to see that her eyes are wet. 

“Ms. Davis? Is everything okay?”

“Oh- yeah. Sorry about that. Let’s get back on task. How’re you doing with the third etude?”

The rest of the moment went mostly as normal, but for some reason I had trouble getting that story out of my mind. Why did she stop to tell it, when it was seemingly irrelevant to what we were working on? Why did it affect her so much?

* * *

<Anja>

Welcome back to another episode of Anja, Ashley, Nova And Ted’s Supernatural Non-Partisan Government Takeover. In order to progress through the Palace, we had to go back and try doing the courtroom fight again. This time, we thankfully were able to come out on top! It makes a big difference, having talked beforehand and planned it out (also having Nova’s Persona from the get-go was a game changer. He’s actually got some pretty decent abilities!)

Anyways, it was the exact same encounter as before, with the same enemies. I decided that it’d probably be boring to describe the whole thing again, so here’s the tl;dr (or tl;dw in this case): I used my firepower to knock out the winged things before they became a problem. In the last match, they were weak against Ted’s gun, and also I wasn’t able to do jack diddly shit against the metal giants. Without the winged distractions and with Nova’s lightning, the other three were able to take them out without nearly as much trouble.

Anyways, after winning the fight, something unusual (but welcome) happens- the room shrinks around us, and we all end up on the floor, now back to our regular heights in proportion to a real world courtroom. 

“Wow!” I quip. “That’s the first time I’ve grown since fifth grade.” Nova laughs at my pitiful existence.

“Well that went… noticeably better,” Ashley says, still suspiciously looking around the front of the room, as if expecting more to appear.

But none do. It returns to the eerie quiet that the room had before.

“He went out that door, right?” Nova asks, gesturing to the door to the right of the witness stand. 

“Yep… let’s give chase,” Ashley says. And with that, we go through the door.

On the other end is… not at all what I expected. We end up in some sort of... sports stadium? There’s a football field just like you’d see on TV, except the stands are utterly deserted. The door we came out of is actually one of ten that are just kind of randomly in the middle of the endzone, Monsters Inc. style. 

“Um… what the hell?” Nova asks.

“Well, looks like this place is not even trying to follow the laws of physics anymore,” Ashley comments, observing the doors that seemingly lead to nowhere.

“In all of my travels… I’ve never seen a place like this,” Ted comments, sounding strangely fearful. “Keep your wits about you, rangers.”

Anyways, we walk past the door area and past one of the goal posts. I think that we’re all by ourselves… when I hear a new voice from behind me!

“ _ Why hello there _ .” It says. 

Naturally, we all do an immediate one eighty to face it. There’s some guy casually leaning against the goal post who most certainly was not there a few seconds ago. This guy is… oh. Oh my.

He’s… hot. Like, Hollywood hot, like he wouldn’t look out of place acting in a movie alongside Brad Pitt. Dark hair that is styled to the side just right. Big pretty eyes, a striking jawline, and just the right amount of stubble… Not to mention that he’s tall and lean, and wearing a cool black vest that is unbuttoned to reveal a tight red undershirt, and skinny jeans. 

“State your name and business,” Ashley commands, immediately brandishing her sword at him.

“Hehehe… my name,” he begins, slowly swaggering towards us with a big grin on his face. “I kind of go by a lot of different names. Some call my God; others call me Satan. Some call me a disease; others call me the cure.”

“I’m not in the mood for fucking riddles,” Ashley cut in bluntly.

He just continues wearing that big smile. “You’re not fun… what’s the matter, girl? You kids having trouble in this Palace?”

“Stay your name and business, or I’m going to fucking cut your head off. You have five seconds.”

“Ashley… we don’t know what his motives are,” Nova mutters to her, his eyes glued to the stranger. “He could be friendly.”

“Okay then, Miss Prissy Pants,” the man says tauntingly. “You may call me Moloch. And my business is, I’m going to lead you to the boss himself, Timothy Pavia… but only if you can pass a simple test.”

“Oh, that doesn’t sound too bad,” I say.

“Okay, and if we don’t do your test, what happens?” Ashley asks.

“You don’t fight Pavia,” Moloch says simply. “You can, if you choose, turn around and leave. I won’t stop you.”

“Either/or fallacy,” Ashley retorts.

“What exactly is this test?” Nova asks him.

“Like I said, it’s simple. Each of you four individually has to defeat four enemies.”

“We can do that, that’s easy,” I say. 

“I think that you’re full of shit,” Ashley says sternly to Moloch. She looks even more pissy than usual for some reason. “What exactly are you supposed to be? Are you a part of the Palace? Or a separate entity?” 

“I’m a separate entity,” he says. “I’m here to help you guys out.”

“Do you know Lucy?” Nova asks.

The smile drops off of Moloch’s face. “Yeah, I know her. We go way back.”

“Name five things about her,” Ashley commands. (By the way, she still has her sword brandished.)

“One: She is a human who has spent most of the last few years in the Metaverse. Two: She never gives up. Three: She has the ability to create enchanted objects for means of communication and travel to the Metaverse. Four: She believes strongly her in ideals, to the point in which she’d do literally anything to further them. Five: She’s still obsessed with her high school girlfriend.”

“What is your relationship to this woman?” Ted asks, stepping forward ahead of us. “Do you consider her an ally, or an enemy?” 

Moloch laughs at him. “I’m gonna be honest… up until this exact moment, I thought that you were a Build-a-Bear.” 

“Answer the question,” Ashley demands.

“Why are you guys being so weird about this?” Nova asks. “We just need to do the challenge, and we can finish this up.”

“You wouldn’t get it, Nova,” Ashley says. “This guy is clearly not trustworthy. I can tell it by his demeanor. Now, your name, ‘Moloch.’ Is this a reference to the pagan god of the same name?”

“I think that your ginger friend here might be afraid of my challenge,” Moloch says in a simpering voice, the grin coming back to his face. 

“Of course I’m not. I am certain that I could clear it easily. I just don’t see why we should be wasting time on it.”

“Hey Ash, remember what we literally just talked about?” I interject. “It’s not a waste of time if it helps us get better as fighters.”

“I could use a chance to learn more about my Persona before we fight the boss!” Nova says in agreement. “Admit it, you’re just scared that you’d lose.”

“No, I most certainly would not lose.”

“This is our only way to the end, Ash,” I tell her. “Don’t chicken out.”

“Fine. Fucking fine. But I’m kicking both of your asses in this.”

“We’ll see!” I taunt. Man, this is cool. We’re getting some friendly competition going here!

“Very well then,” Ted says. “We accept your challenge.”

* * *

<Nova>

Moloch lines us up along the front side line, each of us on a ten yard mark.

“Man… am I the only one getting marching band practice vibes from this?” Anja comments.

“Oh God… I hope that part of the challenge isn’t doing weight transfer mountain,” I reply. 

“Come on guys… can you be serious? We’re about to start,” Ashley nags us.

“Yeah… it’s time to put on our mean faces. Get angry!” Anja shouts.

Hmm… I’m supposed to “get angry?” Well, that’s easy. I just need to think about my bitch of a mother. Or wait, I can think about Pavia. That smug son of a bitch, he thinks he’s better than us just because we’re poor. I’m gonna show him in just a minute.

“Okay… round 1 begins now!” Moloch states from behind us.

In front of me, appears one of those winged things that we fought earlier. I’m just glad that it’s not one of the knights. Those guys were tough. (And annoying little shits.)

* * *

<Anja>

The first enemy in the challenge was one of those winged assholes we fought earlier. Thankfully, I knew just the thing for them. They were quickly finished off by a well-aimed round of my… uh… what did Ashley say this was again? My… probably illegal gun.

I look to my left and see that the others have finished round 1 quickly as well. I watch Ashley dispassionately tearing the thing’s head off with her bare hands. It’s gross, but also kind of awesome. (I wouldn’t be okay with this level of violence if these were real creatures… but this is the Metaverse, so anything goes.)

“Round 2!” Moloch shouts, and in front of me spawns a fjsifjlaksdjf;lkasjfl;kadsjf;lk;j nononononono it’s a wasp it’s a giant fucking wasp I HATE them it’s the same size of one of the war wasps from metroid prime that always scared the shit out of me im feeling faint bye

* * *

<Nova>

The wasp is nothing before the power of my hammer. I turn to my left. Ashley and Ted defeated their wasps already, but Anja is straight up passed out on the ground. I guess that’s what the scream I heard was. Fuck! We’re down one.

“Round 3!” Moloch shouts. The next enemy is some sort of snake creature I haven’t seen before. 

I know I can’t afford to lose, so I wind up a huge strike, and slam it right down into the middle of the snake’s body. It leaves a pretty impressively sized crater in the ground, but… misses the snake, who moved out of the way the millisecond before my attack landed and is now wrapping around me like an anaconda. God damn it!

* * *

<Ashley>

The last enemy was a coyote, just like one of the ones who ganged up on me a few weeks ago. I was determined to not let it end like last time… and I was successful.

I look around me after I finish. Ted is still standing, but the other two seem to have failed, for they are both flopped on the turf like dead fish. How disappointing. 

“Well, congratulations you two!” Moloch says, setting up to the field and clapping. “You two have proven yourselves strong enough to take on the boss!”  

“Of course we have,” I say. “I mean, honestly. ‘Get angry’ is actually pretty bad advice if you’re about to enter a fight. You want to stay calm and collected… so that you can unleash all of your anger in one precision strike. That’s how real champions do it.”

“Hehe, well… you sure showed me. Good luck, ‘champions’.”

He begins spinning his right hand, and a sort of weird purple vortex starts forming around Ted and I. Soon enough, I begin to feel weightless… and I am teleported away from the stadium.

* * *

<Nova>

It must have been quite a while later when I came to. I slowly get up to my feet, ignoring my heavily protesting ribcage. Thirty yards away, Anja is doing the same. I run over to where she is.

“Man… I feel like the biggest pussie on the planet,” Anja tells me, rubbing her eyes. “I just saw that fucking wasp, and went out like a light… there wasn’t even a battle.”

“I made a stupid tactical error…” I admit. “Join the club.”

We both look around. Ashley and Ted are gone, but Moloch is still standing on the sideline, watching us.

“Hey! Where did the other two go?” I ask him.

“They already went ahead and started fighting the boss fight,” Moloch explained. “But you haven’t been out for long… if you hurry, you two may be able to help finish it.”

“Lead the way! Let’s go rejoin our team!” Anja shouts excitedly. Moloch nods and begins jogging towards the end zone opposite to the one we entered. Anja and I follow closely behind him.

“So… that redhead girl,” Moloch asks us as we run. “She the religious type by any chance?”

“Yeah… well, I think,” Anja explains. “I’m not sure how religious she still is after all the shit she and Zoe have been through recently… Personally, I’ve never been religious.”

“Well… that’s probably for the better for you,” he says.

We jog past the endzone, and to a pair of large, metal doors underneath the stands.

“The boss is behind these doors… good luck, you two.” Moloch tells us. Using some sort of telekinesis, he opens the doors, which reveals some sort of tunnel that goes down into the Earth.

“Alright, killjoys, let’s make some noise!” Anja shouts excitedly. She runs into the tunnel, but then stops in her tracks only a few steps in. “Oh… my… god.” 

“Yeah, she did a good job on him, didn’t she?” Moloch says, his smile seeming to become more twisted.

“Wait… who is this ‘she’?” I ask.

Moloch looks at me with a big tooth grin. “The girl reading this.”

“The… what?” I’m so confused.

“N-Nova… run.” Anja says. There’s something weird about her now- she’s trembling, and her eyes are as wide as saucers.

“What? Run from what?” I ask, leaning forward to try and look and see what’s in the tunnel. However, I can’t. Anja pushes me backwards. “Just run the opposite direction! RUN!” She screams.


	24. The Red Machine (September 2- Part 2)

<Ashley>

Before I even have a chance to take in my new surroundings, I feel a searingly painful electric current run through my entire body. For a few seconds, there is only agony. Then, it stops, and I simply fall flat on my face. 

I hear footsteps close by, then some unseen thing flips me onto my back. Hovering over me now is what appears to be some person with a black mask and helmet, and billowing green cape that they hold in front of them like a vampire.

“Ted…” I sputter out, “We came here to fight the local judge… who are all of these… weirdos who keep stopping us?”

I don’t get a reply. Come to think of it, I don’t even know where Ted is in relation to me. 

The masked figure just looks over me, staring at me, as though examining me closely. They’re still holding a massive gun, which I assume is what just electrocuted me a few seconds ago. In the background, I see something glowing…

After about a minute of this, the masked figure speaks in a deep, slightly robotic voice.

“Tell me the names of everyone in your party.”

“And why I should I?” I retort.

“Because, you don’t want to die a painful death,” they say simply. Mask Person lifts up a boot and sets it on my shoulder.

“Well, joke’s on you. I’ve wanted to die for the past three years. Bring it.”

It’s hard to tell, but I think I might have annoyed them.

“Tell me; what is your mother’s maiden name?”

“Really? You want to access my bank account or something?”

For that, they lift their foot from me, and I get another round of electrocution. They hold this one out noticeably longer than the first time. 

“You see? I’m not someone who you can sass,” they say. “Answer my questions. Where did you acquire the pink gem in your breastplate?”

“Fuck off.”

They make to fire it again, but then a gunshot sounds, and Mask Person stumbles backwards. I glance to my right and see that it’s Ted. He must have snuck off after we were teleported here and evaded detection. 

I take this opportunity to get to my feet and draw my sword. Mask Person must’ve had a bulletproof vest on or something, because they’re not dead, though being shot definitely threw them off. Now that I’m on my feet, I also am finally able to see where we are, and…  _ We’re back at the entrance outside the Palace!  _

“Okay, now it’s my turn to ask the questions,” I say. “You’re in cahoots with Moloch. That whole stupid ‘challenge’ was just some weird trick in order to separate the party.” 

“That’s not a question, child,” Mask Person says. “But… more or less.”

“Well, then… You’re going to take me and my trusty animal sidekick in a fair fight now. En guarde.”

I make to swing at them, but Mask Person releases some sort of electric pulse. It’s not the same attack as before; it doesn’t hurt, but it does immobilize both me and Ted in our tracks, making us stand in place like idiots.

“Actually… I have places to be right now. You are your little friends better not ever come back here. The Metaverse is our turf, and we don’t like other people messing around here. Goodbye.” 

And with that, they reach to the barrel of the electric shock gun, and put their hands on a small green gem that is embedded into the weapon. Then, they teleport away.

As soon as they’re gone, Ted and I’s paralysis is released. Even though I know it’s not going to help, I finish the sword swing, striking the ground with a loud clatter that almost jams my arm.

“God damn it!” I growl. “What a load of fucking bullshit this is!” 

I take a deep breath, release it, and then turn to Ted. “I fucked up, man. I knew that the dude was full of shit, and I still did the challenge!”

“Do you remember what we discussed earlier?” Ted says, slightly sternly. “Maybe you haven’t moved on from your old self as well as you think.”

I glare at him for a few seconds, and am seriously considering talking back. However, we have more important things to do right now. “Come on. Let’s get back into the Palace and find out what happened to the other two.”

(But as we run back to the front door, I can’t help but to think about it.)

(He’s right, isn’t he? The only reason I fell for that stupid trap is because I wanted a chance to prove I was better than everyone else… God, I’m such a dumbass.)

* * *

<Nova>

And so, I start running the opposite direction, with Anja running beside me and panting. Before we even reach the football field, however, some type of weird sludge rains down in front of us and forms a puddle in the end zone. 

“Uh… Fuck! To the left!” Anja calls out. She sprints leftward, yanking my arm along with her in the process. We got a ways around the puddle before it happens again and blocks the leftward path we were about to run through. 

“Okay… I take it back now!” She says, doing a 180 and pulling me the other way. While we’re turning around, I try to catch a brief glimpse of what we’re actually running from… there’s something emerging from that tunnel…

“Watch your step!” Anja shouts. I look in front of me and see that the sludge is spreading, so we hop over it and sprint off of the field and behind the bleachers.

We get to behind where the concessions usually would be. Anja falls down onto the ground, trying to catch her breath and twitching nervously. Now that I’m outside of the stadium, it strikes me how eerie this place is. Behind the bleachers, there is nothing- just a generic green field as far as the eye can see. It feels a lot like we used an out-of-bounds cheat code in a video game and got somewhere that we’re not supposed to see.

“Wow. Okay.” Anja finally says, after about ten seconds. “What the fuck.”

She rolls over onto her back. “Hey… do you remember yesterday, after we got out of that first chamber? What Ashley said?”

“She says a lot of things. I try to ignore her, honestly,” I reply.

“Well… she said that while we were in the chamber, I went crazy, and started talking about ‘the evil’ or something like that. Well… do you think maybe I was onto something?”

I try to see what’s going on through the gaps in the bleachers. I don’t see the… whatever it is, but I can still hear rumbling coming from the other side. 

“Why did we run away?” I ask her. “We came here to  _ fight. _ ”

“Yeah, well, the two of us aren’t going to be able to kill  _ that _ by ourselves.”

“What even was that?” I press her. “I never saw it.”

“It was… the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know if words can do it justice…”

“And where did Ashley and Ted go?”

Then, a familiar voice sounds from right behind me; “Oh, they’ll be long gone by now.”

I jump to side instinctively, and whirl around to find Malach or whatever whatever his name was smiling at us. 

“It’s that jackass! Let me at ‘im!” Anja shouts, quickly getting to her feet, and firing her semi at him without a moment’s hesitation.

However, this dude uses his teleportation thing to just go right behind her. “Really? Violence? We were getting along just fine earlier.” 

I see him start reaching his hand forward towards her. I enter a blind fury and, without thinking about it, I run over and deck him in the face, knocking him backwards.

“Nice one, Nova!” Anja says, grinning at me. Then, she turns around and points her gun right at him. I also draw my hammer to the ready.

The dude wasn’t even really hurt by me punching him, he’s just sitting on the ground, smiling still, without a scratch on his face. “Alright, I see that my natural charm is no longer enough for you two. Sad.”

“You better explain what in the fucking blazes is doing on here!” Anja commands of him. “What was that thing you released on us?”

“I already told you. It’s the final boss you guys are looking for.”

“You mean that thing was Pavia himself? Bullshit.”

“Well… he’s been given a little bit of a boost by a certain friend of mine. As for your friends, since they have proven themselves useful, they will be offered a chance to help my cause, or return to their life in peace.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Anja rants. “I’ve known Ashley for about a month now… it feels like about a half a year… and if there’s one thing I know about her, it’s that she doesn’t trust anyone. Absolutely nobody is above the highest scrutiny in her eyes. So she’d never be so gullible as to join… whatever you are. And if there’s one other thing I know about her, it’s that she never gives up. She will also see something through once she starts it. So she ain’t running away either.”

“Duly noted. Anyways, have fun painfully dying. And may your last thoughts be that this is the fate that should befall all in society who fail, and are unable to contribute anything meaningful.”

“Fuck that!” Anja retorts. “Just because someone fails once, doesn’t mean that they can’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps and try again! And assholes like… that guy… and the big corporations and shit… who try to take away people’s chances in life, to protect their own skin… they… they piss me off! I... will stand up to them.”

“Nice speech. You do that, then.” 

Malach whistles very loudly, so loudly that I have to cover my ears again. Then, he teleports away, cheekily giving us a finger wave as his body fades out. 

Almost immediately, we hear the rumbling sound get closer, and then loud clanging sounds coming from the stands in front of us.

“Uh… okay, I’m not feeling so brave now,” Anja admits. 

Then, from above the railing, I see a large, red head poke- with a horrible frowning face- and I see spindly legs claw over towards us…

“Okay, time to move! Go go go!” Anja shouts, pushing me from behind.

“Let’s get to the Monsters Inc. door!” I shout, as I break into a run. “Then maybe we can… think about this.”

“Right behind you!”

* * *

<Ashley>

After a surprisingly long trek, we make it back to the Palace, through the first chamber, and then through the hall back into the courtroom. When we get there, however, Anja and Nova are already there, just sitting on the floor near the front. Anja is panting like she just ran a mile.

“I told you,” Anja said to nobody in particular after I crossed the room.

“You didn’t tell  _ me _ ,” Nova protested. “You told that… guy.”

“What are you doing back here?” I ask them.

“Well, Ashley… It turns out that the boss was in that football stadium place the whole time,” Anja explains. 

“Oh, I see. It does make sense to regroup as a party before fighting it,” I say. 

“You didn’t take the offer to join their side, did you?” Nova asks me.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I reply. “I wasn’t offered jack shit. Some weirdo in a mask electrocuted me twice, asked a few weird questions- none of which I answered- and then ran away.”

“Huh. Odd.” Anja commented. “It seems like whatever weird group is trying to interfere with us here, they aren’t all on the same page.”

And then, without warning, the entire room starts shaking, like there’s an earthquake. Anja bolts upright, terror in her eyes. Nova starts getting to his feet and says, “Oh no… did that thing follow us here?”

“Who? You mean Pavia?” I question them.   
“Uh… well, sort of, but he’s been turned into this horrifying, red… thing,” Anja explains. “I don’t even know how to describe it.”

“Yeah, he’s like a Cthulhu monster,” Nova says. “Someone did something weird to him.”

I look around the room for a sign of where he would be entering, but I don’t see any cracks in the wall or anything. However, over time, the rumbling slowly seemed to become more and more distant, moving towards where I entered the room and then past the door. Then, after a while, it stops.

“Phew… that’s a relief,” Anja comments.

“Don’t you hang up your hat just yet,” Ted interjects, causing the three of us to turn to him. “He is not gone… he is waiting for us.”

“Where? You mean outside the Palace?” Nova asks.

“No… I think he will strike when we re-enter the first chamber.”

“When? Who said anything about when?” Anja asks.

“It’s not like there’s another way out,” I reason.

“Yeah, that stadium place was in the middle of nowhere,” Nova commented. For some reason, this observation stirs something in my memory… but I don’t have time to think about it.

“Alright, then,” I say. “Does everyone feel relatively refreshed?” 

I get shaky nods all around. So, we begin moving back into the front chamber.

* * *

Sure enough, as soon as we step foot into the front chamber, the rumbling sound begins. I feel someone cling onto me from behind. 

“Ashley… I don’t wanna do this…” Anja says.

“Don’t be a coward,” I tell her. “We’re finishing this now.”

Then, I see it. 

Through the window on the ceiling, the scenery changes. The day turns to night. The clouds turn to blood red. An unnaturally large moon hangs in the sky. And then, two spindly spider legs smash through the ceiling, making glass rain down on us. Even inside the chamber, things change- the gold seems to lose its glimmer. Blood pours out of the mouths of all of the creepy statues. (Which, if you ask me, is kind of extra, but oh well.) But only when the monster enters the room do I really understand why Anja is acting so afraid.

It had an uneven head with a horrible, frowning face, which is sticks into the room first. If that wasn’t enough, its eyes glow bright white, with fury. It then drops down, landing on the floor in front of us on a pair of spindly back legs just like the front one. Other than its head and legs, its body seems to be mechanical. Its thorax is a what looks like a huge, round generator, which is as large as my living room and arcing electricity at random. It also has two short robot arms, and two huge cannons mounted near its neck.

Okay, I admit it. I’m a little scared now. But I try not to show it. I simply draw my sword, and prepare for the fight of my life. 


	25. Envy Of The Divine (September 2- Part 3)

<Ashley>

Immediately, a few things happen in quick succession.

The beast, upon laying eyes on us, immediately rears its head and breathes a huge amount of fire directly towards us. I watch, as if in slow motion, as it comes towards us; bizarrely, the fireball almost looks like it has a face on it; then, before it can reach us, something small and round shoots into the air, and absorbs the full force of the flame. The ball uncurls, revealing itself to be Ted, who seems to be channeling the fire with a maniacal look in his eyes.

“Scatter!” I shout, running to the side, in case Ted’s block falls through. The others follow suit.

Ted lands on the ground, seemingly unhurt, and with a yell, shoots all of the fire straight back at our foe. Unfortunately, it seems to be completely unfazed by having its own fire blasted at it. The beast simply reaches out one of its spider legs, and stabs it straight through his heart.

I can not let that stand. Thinking fast, I reason that the spindly quality of the legs makes them susceptible to attack, so I charge it with my sword drawn.

* * *

<Anja>

Ashley charges straight at the spider monster, while Nova charges up his lightning attack. He rains thunder down upon the monster’s head. No visible damage is done, but the creature releases Ted and turns it head towards us. Just the sight of that thing looking at us is almost enough to make me pee myself.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Nova shouts. “What the hell do we do? Fire doesn’t work! Lightning doesn’t work…”

“Nova… you have the powers of Thor, right?” I ask him.

“Uh, I think so.”

“Remember in The Avengers when he swung his hammer around like a helicopter propeller and flew in the air?”

However, I hear a roar, and I turn my head back towards the monster. It is now shooting more of that sludge all around the room. Which reminds me… I should probably go check on Ted.

* * *

<Ashley>

I leap forward and start swiping at its legs. As I suspected, they are easily crumpled by my sword. I keep up the assault, trying to knock it off balance.

It isn’t having any of that, however, and kicks out at me with legs that I haven’t hit yet. Somehow, I’m not affected by these attacks at all; in fact, contact with my armor just seems to hurt the legs more.

“Not today, asshole,” I say to myself, very pleased with this turn of events. However, the beast lets out a bellowing roar. Around me, I see some type of toxic fluid raining down on the room. Then, with surprising agility, the beast dashes across the room, leaving the sludge to flood towards me. It covers me up to my knees, and I seem to seep right through the armor, painfully assaulting my very skin.

* * *

<Nova>

Everything’s moving too quickly! What the fuck! The thing roars, Anja just kind of runs off, then the creature dashes across the room. I’m having trouble keeping track of it all.

I try to stay focused… What did Anja just say? Oh yeah. I trying swinging my hammer around, and though it seems humanly impossible, soon enough it is spinning like a propeller, and I am rising into the air.

I use this flight ability to chase after the creature. After running several yards, it comes to a halt, and turns back around towards the others. It doesn’t see me landing on its back…

“NOVA!” Anja shouts from somewhere I can’t see. “GET RID OF THE CANNONS!”

I look at the cannons that are mounted near its head, and I start carefully making my way forward towards them.

* * *

<Anja>

By the time I’ve reached Ted, I noticed that Ashley is being engulfed by the sludge pool. She seems to lose her balance and fall face forward into it, which looks really bad. I see that Nova was able to get on the monster’s back, so I shout at him to take out the cannons.

Then, I get on one knee and look over Ted. He has a nasty black substance coming from the hole in his chest, and he is laying so still that he could be dead. I lay my hand on him and using my healing move, and thankfully he stirs and wakes up. He stands up and coughs up more the black stuff. “Those legs… they have a curse on them,” he says.

“We’d better keep our distance, then,” I remark. I then turn to Ashley, who has disappeared under the pool of sludge.

“Oh shit! Ashley!” I shout, running towards it.

“You must have another ability,” Ted tells me. “Maybe something that can help here?”

I stop and take a deep breath. Wait a minute… At a burst of sudden inspiration, I start turning my hands over each other, manipulating the very air. (Or… wait, is there technically air in the Metaverse?) Anyway, I’m able to create a flurry of winds that blows the sludge away towards the wall.

“Huh, I guess it’s never too late to randomly realize you have a new ability,” I remark, more to myself than anything else.

We rush over to Ashley, who’s been revealed amidst the pool. As we’re running over to her, she is starting to get to her feet, but she looks very shaky.

“Can you heal her, Ted?” I ask. “I don’t think I got much magic left after that…”

Ted does so, also seeming to give himself a pick-me-up in the process.

“Um… good job, guys,” Ashley says awkwardly. “Let’s go help Nova.”

* * *

<Nova>

I arrive at the cannon on the left, and I wail on it with my hammer. It only takes a few hits for it to come loose. The creature diverts its attention away from the others, and starts running around in circles, trying to shake me off. I stand my ground, and with another swipe of my hammer, the cannon breaks clear off. I turn to go get the cannon on the right, but then I see a huge amount of electric arcing from beneath my feet. I brace myself for pain. The electric current runs through me… but I don’t feel pain at all, actually. In fact, I feel stronger… Hell yeah! Emboldened, I run over to break the other cannon.

* * *

<Ashley>

Anja, Ted and I run to the monster just in time to watch Nova knock one of the cannons off of it. It is trying to use its robotic arms to swipe at its back, but they are too short.

“Okay, Anja… in just a moment, fire a round right into its face,” I tell her. I take a deep breath, and then I throw my light attack at it with as much force as I can. Thankfully, this time I used it early enough in the fight to get some results. I immediately see cracks in its abdomen, and a few of its legs break clean apart. In between the cracks, I see inside the metal hull, to see some sort of strange spinning contraption…

Anja recognizes my cue, and lets loose right into it.

Our dual assault seems to be effective. For the cherry on top, Nova makes use of this distraction to finish off its second cannon.

The creature is now bleeding all of its face, and it’s only barely still standing. It looks furious…

Its eyes light up a bright white, and then it lets out a terrible roar, more guttural than any sound it has made yet.

Then, something absolutely unbelievable happens.

We hear a loud cracking sound coming from above us. I look up to see that it’s coming from the moon in the sky, which we can still see through the broken glass on the ceiling. The moon appears to be breaking apart and cracking… like an egg…

“What the motherfucking Christ?” Anja asks, terror in her voice. I share her sentiment.

The moon… breaks apart into halves, and from inside it, one of the cherubim creatures flies down. It swoops straight down at Nova, knocking him off of the beast’s back.

“Go help him!” I shout at Ted. “It has to be him…”

Ted nods in understanding, and takes off towards where Nova fell.

Its eyes still white, the beast then locks eyes on us, and before we can do anything to react, it unleashes another fire attack… This time I’m sure of it. I see a miserable skull face in the flames as they shoot towards me and sear me from head to toe.

* * *

<Nova>

The thing slams me to the floor, and begins scratching me all over. I tried to whack at it with my hammer, but it has my arms pinned down. I focus my energy, and bring down a lightning bolt right onto it, now knowing that I have nothing to fear from electricity in this world.

The force of the blast knocks it away from me, allowing me to get to my feet. The thing is getting back on its feet and preparing to make another leap at me…

When suddenly, a familiar gunshot rings through my ears, and the winged thing’s head explodes. I look to my side, and see that Ted has come to my aid. Unexpectedly, he then proceeds to climb up my back and sit on my shoulder.

“This is your moment, Gonzales!” he tells me.

“Hey! My name isn’t Gonzales! That’s kinda racist.”

I turn back towards the monster. I see both Ashley and Anja lying on the floor, looking charred all over… Then, the spider creature turns towards me, the white glow fading from its eyes.

“You’re going to pay for that!” I shout at it. I run towards it, and prepare to do another leap right into it.

However, the creature still has some limited mobility, and is able to move enough to meet me halfway and grab me out of the air with one if its arms. Then, it opens its mouth, and starts slowly moving closer… I understand that I’m about to become dinner.

“NO! NOT INTO THE MOUTH!” Ted shouts in my ear. He unexpectedly leaps up off of my shoulder, and manages to stick a landing right on the edge of the creature’s mouth. He then unloads every round he has straight down its throat…

The creature drops me on to the floor, and its jaws close down onto Ted. He goes back inside his shell right before the impact, but the creature’s bite still has enough force to dent his shell, leaving Ted to fall uselessly back to the ground.

Then, I see something I didn’t expect. While the creature was trying to eat me, Ashley had somehow gotten to her feet and was now standing under the creature again.

“Finish this, Nova!” Ashley shouts at me. She takes a huge swipe at one of its legs, cutting it clear in half. The creature screams in agony, and it finally totally loses balance and falls to the floor, its legs useless. Ashley is crushed underneath the hull. Ouch…

Now motionless, the creature simply glares at me, and is trying to swipe me with its arms. I know what I must do.

I use the propeller technique to bring myself into the air- as far as I can go. Then, I take my hammer, and I bring it down right onto the top of its head.

The force of my hit dislodges the head. Its neck breaks apart, spewing some type of tarlike substance up like a geyser.

I jump off of its head, and see that the creature is finished. Its head seems to quickly break down, and shatter into nothingness. Where the neck was, I see inside the hull. It appears to be a giant centrifuge, which is now slowing down. When it finally comes to a stop, the metal hull itself disintegrates, leaving behind a strange glass capsule, large enough to fit a person into.

* * *

I lean down to Anja. She looks terrible. Her skin is covered with black soot, and her dress is singed off in places that I’m… trying not to look at.

I lower my hand to her forehead. After a few seconds, she sleepily opens her eyes.

“Hey… Nova…”

“What is it?”

“Do you think that I’m… hot?”

“…What?”

“I mean… I was basically just cooked alive…”

“Oh yeah, that.”

She giggles at me weakly, and then pushes herself to a sitting up position and embraces me.

“We won, Anja,” I tell her. “We defeated the… whatever.”

“Yeah. I figured so. What happened to the rest of our party?”

I help her get to her feet. Several yards away, Ted lies. His shell is still crumpled, and his head and appendages are limply hanging out of it.

Anja scoops him into her arms and carries him like a baby. “He’s still alive… I hear breathing,” she says. “Poor little guy, though. I think he took more of a beating today than the rest of us put together.”

Then, we walk towards the capsule. A few feet away from it, lies Ashley. She’s managed to get herself up to a sitting position before we even get over there.

“Ashley, how did you get all of the way over here?” Anja asks her.

“I walked over here. What kind of questions is that?”

“We were both hit by the fire attack over there.”

“Well, I wasn’t quite finished yet, now was I?”

Anja pouts. “That’s not fair. How come you survived the attack, but it finished me off in one hit?”

“I only barely stayed conscious through that. I don’t know, maybe you’re weak to fire.”

“Maybe you need to get good,” I suggest.

“Oh, shut up, you!” Anja barks at me. But she’s smiling, so I think she’s not actually mad.

We gather around the capsule. As we do, a door opens in the front, releasing a bunch of white mist. In the middle of it, is Pavia, at his regular size and wearing his usual judge clothes. He’s still clutching his gavel in both hands.

“Oh dear… I must have dozed off on the job,” he is saying. Then, he sees us, and waggles his finger at us. “You three again! Ooh, I knew you were up to up to no good yesterday!”

“Shut your mouth! We beat you!” I yell at him, feeling immensely pleased to finally have him at my mercy.

“It’s the truth,” Ashley says. “Now just hand over that gavel, and we’ll be on our way…”

“Hold on just a moment!” Pavia nags us. “You did not beat me at anything. I do not win or lose… I am the judge. _I_ decide who wins and loses. Just as have been ordained by The Lord to do.”

“Are you sure about that?” Ashley pressures him. “I think you might need to take another look at scripture before making claims like that…”

Pavia shakes his head. “Such insolence… like a child like you would know anything of such things.”

“Romans chapter 2: Anyone who judges others has no excuse for themselves. In judging others you condemn yourself, because you, the one judging, does all of the very same things that they do.”

Anja gives me a look. “She had that memorized… what a nerd.”

Ashley ignores her and continues. “Honestly, what’s your excuse for the decision you were going to make tomorrow? Haven’t you heard first hand that his mother is not fit to parent?”

“Do you not know? It is said that wealth is a sign of God’s favor…”

“I’m gonna stop you right there. It is also said, in Mark 10:25, that it is easier for a camel (or a rope… that could be a translation error) to pass through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. In First Timothy 6:10, it says that the love of money is the root of all evil. So as you see, assuming that wealth always corresponds with morality is actually… rather foolish.”

I can listen to any more of this, so I interrupt. “Okay can we just take the gavel now please if you guys want to have a Bible discussion you can do it later or something.”

I walk up Pavia and yank the gavel out of his hands. He resists at first, but ultimately gives up his grip.

“And this means you’ll let my sister and I stay with my dad?” I ask him.

“Well… I suppose I don’t… Yes. Fine.”

“Alright, let’s get out of here already,” Ashley says. “I need to go home and study for Human Geo…”


	26. The Judge (September 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick disclaimer: The way that the civil court system is portrayed in this chapter (and really in this entire arc) is a dramatization. I'm aware that things would not quite shake out like this in real life.

<Ashley>

“You all did an excellent job. Seriously, kudos to you,” Lucy writes to me. “You’ve taken down your first palace, despite facing some pretty unique challenges. I expect great things to come from you in the future, Ashley.

“That said… I am disturbed by some parts of your account. The fact that you have somehow already drawn the attention of Moloch is very troubling. Yes, I am familiar with him. In addition, fighting a monster made out of metal like that is very unusual for a palace. It is rare for the interference to be so direct. They must have been expecting you.

“Okay, I think I owe an explanation as to what I’m talking about. Let’s start with Moloch.

“Moloch is essentially a sort of shapeshifting demon. He is able to take a variety of human forms. Moloch usually takes the form of a man, like you have seen, but technically has no physical form and has appeared as a woman in the past. He also may be able to turn into more monstrous forms, though I have not personally seen him do this. Moloch will usually try and present himself as someone extremely attractive to whoever he is addressing. He probably tried to take the form of an attractive man because your group had two girls and a boy, and so he figured it would give him the best odds. It sounds he was right, but not in the way he expected. When Moloch first approached me, he presented as a male, but the charm didn’t work on me because I’m a lesbian. The next time we met, he took the form of a woman. One time, he even tried taking the form of one of my previous lovers, which I admit almost worked. I still have no idea how he knew to do that. Anyways, you probably figured this out based on your own personal experience, but Moloch is an evil bastard, and you should not trust a single thing he says, ever.

“I have been trying to decipher Moloch’s agenda for decades, and have not derived much. He seems to like to hang out around areas in the United States where power is concentrated; government, churches, and rarely, large businesses. Moloch usually doesn’t act directly. He likes to plant “seeds” in the Shadow Realm that infect people automatically when left to their own accord. More on that later. I already knew that Moloch carries out extensive operations in Texas, and the information you’ve given me further confirms this. I think that he is also involved somehow in activity in both coastal regions. My good friend in California has recently reported strange things happening in the region, though I still need to investigate this more thoroughly. In addition, I think I may on the cusp of uncovering a dark secret in the northeastern US, which I’m convinced that Moloch is behind.

“As for this ‘Mask Person…’ I usually just call her ‘The Dark Trooper.’ Yes, don’t be fooled by the voice, I’m pretty sure this person is a woman. She has been working for Moloch for about as long as I have been working against him. I don’t know much about her history. And yes, that gem you saw implanted into her gun is something like the pink one that you have. I would love to know how she got it. I suspected that she had found a fourth stone, but I have yet to see it, so I’m very glad that you reported this detail to me. Since it is green, we will name it the Emerald Stone.

“And finally, let’s talk about Moloch’s ‘seeds.’ Thanks to your work, I can now say without a shadow of a doubt that Moloch has planted an evil entity in the southern US. I call this entity “Eris,” and it has taken the form of a woman the few times I’ve seen it. Eris’s purpose is to take people in the region who have impure hearts, and corrupt them to the level of being unrecognizable. The judge you fought was clearly not finished being corrupted, so it’s a good thing that you got to him when you did; you have saved your locality a lot of future trouble. It seems as if Eris took an existing monster and made Pavia a part of it. Usually, the reverse happens; Eris’s influence causes a person to grow into a monster organically. Judging by this, I can only assume that Moloch somehow knew you were coming.

“These ‘seeds’ are extremely difficult to find and destroy. And trust me, we want to destroy them; they are responsible for corrupting people that have committed many atrocities in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if some historical events, like the rise of Nazi Germany, were caused by some other supernatural entity planting a seed that got way too powerful. I have defeated a few of them in my day, but Eris so far has eluded me. Keep on defeating villains in the region, and eventually, you will find her.

“I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing that the weird football stadium area your team ended up in was actually in the Shadow Realm. It sounds as if there are more entrances to the place, so I will try and find one of them. I would just love to take a closer look around there. Okay, I’ve talked enough. Any questions?”

“I’m going to be honest,” I write back, “I think I’m more confused now than I was before you started trying to explain everything. Are you saying that there’s been a supernatural war happening in America for decades that nobody knows about?”

“Well… it’s not really a war, it’s more like a bunch of competing espionage schemes. It’s okay if you don’t get it; I understand that this is a lot to take it. How about you sleep on it tonight, and we can talk about it later?”

“Okay, sure.”

“Talk to you later. God bless.”

I close the journal and set it back into my drawer.

Well, it seems as though Lucy is now willing to fully spill the beans on this entire operation.

It sounds like she wants me and the others to take out “villains” in the region so that we can find and destroy this Eris character. It’s not a mission which I necessarily asked for, but I think that I should see it through anyway. For years, my fury at society has been pent up, so it feels good to finally be able to do something real about it.

Specifically, I have grown to loathe a certain type of person that is troublingly common around here: A person who claims to be a devout Christian, but their every action is inspired by greed and cruelty. You can say it’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine. And those feelings have only intensified after witnessing Zoe’s plight. Nobody is perfect; we are all sinners, after all. But for someone to so brazenly ignore the teachings of Christ- while claiming to act in the name of Christ- is not excusable.

Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now. Speaking of Zoe, she’s currently sleeping in my lap. She dozed off while I was helping her with some biology work. She’s so cute when she’s sleeping. We’re probably going to have dinner before too long, but for now, I just let her rest, taking the time to play with her lovely curls. All the while, I keep an eye on my phone, as we wait for Nova’s update. Still, I don’t worry too much about it. We already put in the work. And in that moment, watching the sun set through my window, I feel a serenity like I haven’t in a long time. I can only assume that it’s the calm before the storm; soon enough, all hell is bound to break loose again. (I never claimed to be an optimist.)

* * *

<Nova>

Oh man, I just can’t wait for this. Soon enough, everything is going to change. My dad’s being all gloomy; my sister is biting her nails; my mom is wearing a smug expression. I feel pretty smug too- I’m remembering back to when I used my lightning powers to blow those winged things out of the sky. It happened here, in this very room, yesterday. Man, isn’t life weird?

The person I’m watching the closest, however, is Pavia himself. He’s just kinda… siting there. Looking over a bunch of notes. Kind of taking a long time. He seems… I don’t know. Uncertain, maybe?

After a while of this, he says, “Mr. Mosely… may I have a word with your two kids?”

“Um, sure,” my dad says. Kat and I walk up to him.

“Now, answer me honestly,” he says to us in a low voice. “You have been living with your father for the past few years… correct?”

“Yep,” I reply.

“Do you two feel… reasonably well cared for? Is your father a fit parent?”

“Absolutely,” my sister says, trying to push herself over the stand to make herself look taller. What a dork. “We may not have too much at our home… but dad does the best he can. We’re happy together.”

Pavia looks at me.

“Uh, what she said,” I say.

“Very well… you may be seated.”

We both sit back down where we were. Mom is getting antsy at this point. We hear a clip-clop as she walks up to the front in her high heels. (I never understood why women wear those. They look painful as hell.) She starts speaking to Pavia in a low voice. Eventually, though, they’re talking loud enough that we can hear it.

“… _Make_ something of their lives. You can’t do this. You don’t want this on your conscious.”

“Madame, please. This is my court. Please take a seat and await my…”

“No. I cannot believe that I am being disrespected like this. You’re finished, you hear me? Oh, you laugh now, but I think that the ACLU will be very interested in knowing why you’re denying a mother the right to _properly_ care for her children. They will certainly be notified…”

“You do that, then.”

My mother is infuriated. She begins walking back to her table, ranting as she walks. “This is the end of your career, you hear me? You have no idea what powers that you’re messing with.”

“Miss Vasquez, be real. I’ve proudly served this town for years now. Who’s going to replace me? _Jared Carson_?”

“Damn you!” My mom shouts. It seems like she’s finally lost her temper; she’s totally dropped her whole professional shtick. As she gets back to her table, she grabs it and flips it over in a rage. Then, she just grabs her briefcase and walks straight out without another word.

My dad is pretty confused by all this. “Um… Sir… Justice Sir… uh…?”

“Hmm… It seems as if my hunch about that woman was correct. I ought to report her for contempt of court… Anyways. Go to take your children home, Mr. Mosely.”

My dad’s eyes go wide like saucers. “Wait… are you serious?”

“Yes, I am. Upon further review of my notes over the case, I began to suspect that I was not taking into account all aspects of parental fitness. I have decided that you will retain custody of both children for the time being.”

“Well, that’s… great. Uh, thank you very much, Justice.”

“Wait, Dad won?” Kat said, looking positively giddy. “Awh hell yeah!”

“Excuse me young lady!” My dad interjected. “Do not use that kind of language here. Do you want the Justice to change his mind?”

Pavia apparently didn’t hear anything. “My apologies if I misjudged you at first. You had better take care of those kids. I don’t want to see you in this room again, understand?”

“Understood, sir. Absolutely, judge sir. I will do my very best,” my dad said awkwardly, getting up from his seat.

“May… may God’s blessing be upon you,” Pavia says.

“I very much appreciate that,” my dad says.

As we head for the back of the court, I nudge Kat in the ribs.

“I told you he was going to win, idiot. You didn’t believe me.”

“Oh shut up! You had no way of knowing,” Kat argued back. “Hey dad… do you think we can go to Sonic again to celebrate?”

My dad doesn’t respond immediately. He just laughs.

And man, is it a relief to see the last of this god damn courthouse. And you know what? I feel a really good feeling. I’m not really sure exactly how I’d describe it. It’s like… I did something really good, for myself. It’s like how it feels when I win a match on Pokémon Showdown, except like, times a hundred. It’s cool.

**End of Arc 1**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Arc 2 will be coming in early 2020. Until then, have a good Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/Whatever!**


	27. Denton (April 25-26, 1997)

<Gregg>

It is a most pleasant Friday morning. The other band members are sleeping in right now, but I chose to take a trip down to the local Hastings and browse through the music section. There is almost nobody here, perhaps because it is so early. Now that I have finished my leisurely browse, I make my way over to the checkout.

There are not many employees here, either. Only one checkout lane is open. The attendant is a woman, who looks to also be college age. She is very pretty. Her hair is naturally red, and hangs down neatly to below her shoulders. The morning sun coming in through the front windows gives it a mesmerizing glint. I think she’s someone I may want to get to know a little.

“Good morning,” I say, as I set my two selected CD cases down on the counter.

“Mornin’,” she says sleepily. I watch her face as she scans my items. _Foxtrot_ \- I wanted to see what the digitally remastered version was like- and _Kind of Blue._ Her bleary eyes open slightly more when she sees _Kind of Blue_ , and she stops for a moment.

“You like jazz?” She asks.

“I sure do. Are you familiar with that album?”

“Yeah. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, Bill Evans, Jimmy Cobb.”

“Correct. I already own it on vinyl, but I wanted something to listen to in the car.”

“Good man. I don’t care if it’s obsolete, vinyl has the best sound. Nothing’s going to change that.”

She finally scans the bar and sets it into the bag with _Foxtrot_. I look to the right- nobody is around. Nobody to be angry if I hold up the line.

“By any chance, miss, are you planning on being at the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival tomorrow?” I ask.

“Yes! Are you?”

“I sure am. I will be performing with the UC-Berkeley Jazz Ensemble.”

Her eyes are fully open now. “Pretty well-known jazz program there, right?”

“I suppose so. We’ve graduated Branford and Delfeayo Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Quincy Jones, Ingrid Jenson, and Toshiko Akiyoshi, to name just a few.”

“Composer of ‘Hiroshima: Rising From the Ashes’?”

“The very same.”

“You had that all memorized?”

“Yep.”

“What’s your major there? Jazz?”

“Yep.”

There’s a twinkle in her eyes. “I’m attending TCU right now. I’m doing music education.”

“Very respectable.”

“I love jazz, though. I hope I get hired somewhere with a program. What do you play?”

“Trombone.”

“Nice. I’m a sax player myself.”

“Who’s your favorite player?”

“Oh, I don’t know… I love Coltrane. Recently, I’ve been listening to Sonny Rollins.”

“You know, on Kind of Blue, everyone always talks about ‘So What,’ and ‘All Blues,’ but I’m really partial to ‘Flamenco Sketches’ myself.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Some really excellent soloing on that track. It’s beautiful.”

“It’s underrated. I’m with you.”

There’s a brief pause. She fumbles around a bit as she tries to finally log my order. I think I got her.

“When you playing tomorrow?” She asks.

“11 AM. Celebration Stage.”

“Cool… I think I’ll try and go watch.”

“That would be excellent. I appreciate it.”

She grins at me, a little bit of pink in her cheeks. “See you tomorrow, then.”

“See you. By the way… what is your name?”

“Alyssa.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Gregg.”

* * *

The next day…

<Alyssa>

The Celebration Stage is in a nice, open grassy area, somewhat removed from the rest of the festival. It’s near what appears to be some sort of city hall building, which is currently deserted.

The UC-Berkeley band is dressed in all black. Greg is sitting second from the left in the trombone row, in the lead bone position. He looks pretty dashing in his button up, and he seems to have used some hairspray for the occasion. I occasionally glance at him during the performance. I wonder if he sees me in the crowd? I’m sitting on the ground in my best pair of denim, a green sleeved crop top, and a pair of pink-tinted sunglasses. Usually not my thing, but I want to look trendy for today.

In the third tune, he has a solo. It’s a tune I hadn’t heard before. It has a hard rock beat, and an intense sound, as it utilizes a lot of half-step chord changes. He plays his solo with such power… it’s not what you’d expect from such a soft spoken man. It’s amazing how someone’s personality can change when you put an instrument to their face.

After the concert, I decide to go meet him backstage to see if he recognizes me from yesterday.

The scene I am met with is quite interesting. I see various band members putting away their instruments, the cases scattered across the field. I see Greg putting away his trombone next to a blonde girl I recognize as the lead trumpet player, who… appears to be in the middle of getting high. I don’t know what she’s smoking, but I’m certain it’s illegal. Hopefully it’s just weed. It’s a shame- she’s really, really beautiful. She’s got flowing blonde hair and such a nice figure. She looks like she should be modelling for Playboy, not playing lead trumpet. It’s such a waste for a girl that good looking to be on drugs.

As I get closer, I hear that the two are embroiled in conversation.

“…hope that nobody sees you,” Greg is saying. “You’ve got a real future, Sarah. You don’t want to throw it away while you’re still in college.”

“Eh, it’s a jazz festival. Nobody cares,” Sarah says in her defense. Still holding her trumpet in her other hand, she takes another hit.

Greg finishes putting his horn up, and looks up and notices me. I see his eyes briefly pause before reaching my face- yes! That’s a score.

“Oh! Alyssa, wasn’t it? Thank you for coming out.”

“You’re welcome. You guys did amazing. I really liked your solo.”

“Thank you very much for that.”

“Hmm, so you know this girl?” Sarah interjects into the conversation. “Looks like your luck is finally gonna pick up again…”

“This is my friend, Sarah,” Greg says, gesturing at her. “She’s quite a skilled trumpet player.”

“Oh yes, I heard her,” I say. “You sounded _radical._ ”

“Oh, no I didn’t. I could’ve done a much better show than that,” she says, sighing.

“Anyways… I’m going to go put my horn back in the van. When I am done with that, you are welcome to come with me.”

“Ooh, yes… I would like that,” I say. He grins at me, and then makes his way to the parking lot.

“Girl… you don’t want to bother with him,” another voice says from behind me.

I turn around and see a pretty black girl with wavy hair stuffing some drum sticks into a bag. “He’s got an… antiquated view of the world. You’re too pretty to get caught up in that.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” I ask, annoyed, but also blushing a bit despite myself.

“Well, hold on there, Yvonne. I think there’s probably a reason he’s going after this Texas girl.” I turn to my right to see yet another woman accosting me. This one is a brunette who’s holding nothing but a folder. Her face looks off for some reason- like it’s stretched further than it’s supposed to be. And that’s on top of the fact that she’s clearly cranky about something.

“Excuse me, may I help you?” I ask her, bristling.

“Yeah… let me guess. You grew up in Bumdale, Texas, population 10; you pretend that you’re some sort of rebel, when deep down you’re still clinging to mommy and daddy’s religion; and you went to college to find a man to save you from yourself.”

“You don’t know anything about me. I’ll have you know I grew up in _Thorn_ dale,” I retort.

“You see? This is exactly the girl of simpleminded girl who is perfect for our Gregg…”

“Simple-minded, huh? Well, if you’re so sure you’re smarter than me, how’s your GPA doing? Mine’s currently hovering around a 3.8…”

Apparently, her GPA isn’t very good, because she just glared at me and walked away at that. Yvonne followed suit, picking up her cymbal bag and walking back to the set, shaking her head.

I glance back at Sarah. She hasn’t moved an inch, she’s just been standing there watching that little argument with great amusement, still getting stoned.

“Um… so, what exactly did this guy do to get these girls so angry?” I ask her.

Sarah chuckles. “Nothing- those two are just being rude bitches. That first girl? Yvonne? Gregg dumped her because she cheated on him. The second one dumped _him_ because he didn’t want to join the Communist Party.”

I laugh out loud. I feel so stupid that I was actually worried for a moment. Like I need the advice of lunatics like that.

Anyways, Greg returns from putting his horn up, and we awkwardly set out to travel the fair. However, when we have just passed by the stage, a man approaches us from the crowd. He looks to be a little bit older than us- he’s got rounder jawline and a neatly trimmed, but bodied, hair.

“Excellent job out there!” He says, shaking Greg’s hand. “That was my composition you soloed on.”

“Oh, you mean ‘On the Edge?’ You must be Steve Wiest!” Greg replies enthusiastically. “He played with Maynard!” he says to me in a low voice. “Superb trombonist and composer.”

“Mr. Wiest, did you know Dennis DiBlasio while with the Ferguson band?” I ask him out of curiosity.

He laughs. “Oh yeah, I knew him… he was practically my first wife!”

* * *

We go on to have an incredible day together. Listening to more jazz… talking more about jazz… eating funnel cake... looking through the art gallery… then, of course, we go to the Showcase Stage to watch the legendary UNT One o’ Clock Lab Band. Like the rest of the festival, there aren’t really any chairs, but there is a sort of strange cement structure near the stage that people can sit on. Due to the tight space, we have to sit with our thighs touching…

After it is over, we decide to go find a nice place away from the crowd. By this time, it is dark out.

“Oh, that was simply incredible,” he says as we walk.

“Oh yeah. The experience of a lifetime.”

“I have heard them many times on recordings, but live… it’s a totally new experience.”

“Oh yeah. You can’t beat live.”

We arrive at a fairly secluded little spot, in between an unused civic building and a tree.

“Hey… let’s stop here for a minute,” I say, trying not to sound too nervous or excited.

“Okay.”

He slides down the brick until he is sitting in the grass. I sit sideways across his lap and we lock arms. I feel like I’m about to start shaking…

“It’s been really nice hanging out with you today,” he tells me.

“Yes… It has been very nice.”

He just kind of sits there and grins at me. Not much of an instigator, huh?

Trying to be braver than I felt, I leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

He’s actually pretty good. It’s been so long since I’ve kissed someone. The last time was… the last time I saw…

I involuntarily back away. Something must have shown on my face, because he asks me, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve done this.”

“It’s been a little while for me too, now that I think of it.”

“I haven’t had a boyfriend since high school. I was with this boy named Lucas… he was so smart, so passionate about helping the world, and fighting against evil… but he also had some serious mental problems. I tried to get him to get help, but…”

I shake my head. “I’m sorry. You probably don’t want to hear about this.”

“Oh no, I don’t mind. I have my fair share of regrets in life, trust me.”

We’re quiet for a moment.

“I really do like you,” he tells me. “It’s just… you know. It’s a shame that…”

“We live in different states. Yeah.”

“Well… I do graduate in a month,” he says. “I could be talked into coming down here…”

However, I shake my head. “No. I don’t want to live in Texas for a little while.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

“May I ask why?”

I let out a hefty sigh. How can I explain it… I shouldn’t tell him everything just now. But I need to impress on him that it’s important for me to disappear for a little while.

“Just… too many bad memories down here,” I tell him, which is true. “I’m not on great terms with my family, and my friends have all… scattered to the wind. There’s nothing left for me here. I’ll come with you, back to California.”

“Hmm… Are you going to be finishing your degree this semester as well?”

“No… I still have one more year, in theory.”

He gets stern with me. “Hold on there, Alyssa. I know we’ve been going 0 to 90 today, and I’m mostly okay with that… but you should not abandon your education just to run off with me. I’m not worth that. Stay one more year and finish, then you can leave if you wish.”

Damn it... How can I get him to understand?

“No, I’m leaving after this semester. I already decided, this isn’t just because of you. I can’t be here any longer. No matter what, I’m going to be leaving the state for somewhere. You might as well tell me where you’re going to be living after college.”

“I can’t imagine what is making you want to skip finishing your degree. Think about your career prospects.”

“I don’t need a degree to gig.”

“But working in education is much steadier. Why would you…”

I can’t hold it back any more. Before I can stop myself, I’m crying.

When he sees that I am, he stops talking. After a few moments, he wraps an arm around me uncertainly. “Alyssa…?”’

I take a few deep breaths and starting talking. “Look, I know that this sounds really stupid. I don’t expect you to understand. But I just… have to get out of here. I have to.

“I grew up with very… controlling parents. And it was a very deeply religious household. And, you know… that can be a really good thing, I think… I don’t know where you lie as far as that stuff goes… but there’s just some aspects of their personal philosophies which I just… Can’t. Accept.”

I look at him, trying to see his reaction. He just looks very… thoughtful.

“I… was also raised in a pretty religious household. I regret to say that I’ve fallen off a bit in college. But… I can imagine what you mean.”

“I just… I can’t accept that I was put on this Earth for the sole purpose of plopping out a few kids, then spending the rest of my life cleaning a house… I just feel it innately that I was meant for… something more. Not that there’s anything wrong with family life, but…”

“I agree. I think you were absolutely meant for something more than that,” Greg says. “You’re a very remarkable woman.”

“Thank you…”

“And you know, I don’t believe anybody should have their life path decided for them… especially based on things like that. Not by other humans, at least.”

“Yes. I’m so glad that you understand me.”

“And you know… I too have some… well, there’s room for… in certain parts of the…”

He seems to have lost his train of thought. He just stares at the tree for a while, with a vacant expression.

“…Well, I shouldn’t say any more,” he says at last. “Anyways… if you’re dead set on leaving… you can come and find me. I’m planning on living in a little city called Concord, a bit further upstate. It’s in a location that is close to a few different major urban centers, so there will be plenty of performance opportunities. I already have an apartment shopped out… Do you have a pencil and paper?”

I take a notepad I carry around in my purse and hand it to him. He writes down an address.

“Thank you… thank you so much,” I tell him. “I know this is really fast, but…”

But what? Somehow, I just really feel like doing this is the right thing, as illogical as it seems. Maybe it’s the Holy Spirit. Maybe it’s just my own delusions. I suppose only time will tell.

“Well, in that case… I guess I may be seeing you soon,” he tells me. “But goodbye for now… unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless… you’d like to stay here and enjoy the night a little while longer?”

I grin at him. “Yeah… I’d like that.”

I get back onto his lap, but this time, I put my knees on either side of him and face straight towards him.

I meet his lips once again. He is a pretty good kisser. I put my hands on his shoulder. He puts his on my hips, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up… I think I feel something poking me…

What happens next? That’s for me to know, and for you to guess.


	28. Matthew 5:39-41 (September 15)

<Zoe>

I’ve been trying my best to get through everything. I just need to get up in the morning and put everything out of my mind long enough to get through each school day.

My world geography class just ended. I only have to focus for two more class periods… and then marching band…

My silver lining for today is, I was actually able to make all-region jazz band! Auditions happened last weekend, and I managed to get the second alto saxophone position in the second band. Ashley did even better, she made third trumpet in the first band and is actually getting to move on to all-area. She was quite pleased, naturally. That said, there was one thing that annoyed her: Mason also made the first band, which means that she’s going to have to deal with him when it comes time for the concert. In addition, because he made second chair, he tried to claim to her that he “beat her…” despite the fact that there are three tenor trombones and five trumpets in the first band, so if anything, they tied. Anyways, next weekend is Homecoming Dance. I probably won’t be able to attend it, unfortunately. Without easy access to my wardrobe, what would I wear?

I’m almost to my biology class, when I accidentally bump into someone. It seems that I got lost in thought once again.

“Oops, excuse me,” I say softly.

However, the other person; a tall brunette with straight hair; turns towards me and puts her hands on her hips angrily. “Don’t you dare touch me again,” she scolds me.

“Oh… I’m sorry… it was just…”

“I know who you are. Don’t you dare try and fool me, you pervert.”

She pushes me backwards, and my backside slams against the lockers behind me and I fall to the ground. And I feel like I could cry and my butt hurts and everyone’s staring at me and I put my face in my arms trying to make everything stop…

“That’ll teach… AARGH!” I hear something slam loudly against one of the lockers.

I look up from my arms. The girl who pushed me is now bleeding profusely from the nose and is bawling. Ashley is suddenly standing near me, cold fury etched into her face.

“Come on, Zo. Get up.” She extends a hand towards me, which I take, and she pulls me to my feet.

“Let’s get to class. Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” I say. We walk the rest of the way to my biology class, Ashley’s arm around my waist.

However, as we get to the door, Coach Everheart pokes his head outside the door.

“What’s going on out here? I heard a noise,” he says, in his normal slightly awkward tone. When he sees what happened to the other girl, a look of shock comes over his face.

“What happened to Taryn?” he asks us.

“I slammed her into a locker,” Ashley explains, as if it was no big deal.

Coach Everheart’s look of shock turns into utter bafflement, and he turns towards Ashley and stares at her. “ _You_ did this?”

“I did,” Ashley replies.

“Okay… Ashley, I’m going to have to ask you to go explain this to a counselor.”

“Okay, I will. Have a good class, Zoe,” she says. She turns and goes back down the hallway. Though she is being disciplined, she still walks with the same confidence as always, like she’s still somehow in charge. Coach Everheart then makes his way over to the girl, who is still crying hysterically. I can’t find it in me to feel bad for her right now.

* * *

<Ashley>

The school counselor I end up getting set up with is a woman named Sydney Snyder. Yeah, I had to do a double take when I saw the name on the desk. She has blonde hair, but it looks like it was dyed. Her eyes are constantly open just a little bit too wide for some reason, and she speaks with a thick, southern accent. She has a husband and a son; I can see a vacation picture pinned behind her of the three of them at Yosemite… which is not far from where I used to live. What a small world it is.

The door opens behind me.

“Thank you for being here, Misses…”

“Cooper. I’m Ashley’s mom. Her father could not be here today.”

My mom takes a seat next to me. I knew that Dad couldn’t make it, as he has a rare Monday afternoon gig.

“That’s okay. Okay, Ashley, how about you explain to your mother why you are here?”

“Okay.” I let out a small sigh before explaining. “I walked out of my biology class, and I saw someone bullying Zoe. She shouted insults at her, and then pushed her into a locker. I took this girl’s head and slammed it into a different locker. It apparently broke her nose, so I’ve heard. Coach Everheart told me to come here. Now, I’ve missed almost all of my speech class.”

“Okay… I see.” My mom says.

“Mrs. Cooper, I am giving your daughter Saturday detention for this. And I want you to understand that I am being generous. I know that you are mostly a good kid, Ashley. You have no record of disciplinary issues and extremely good grades. I understand that everyone has moments now and then in which their temper gets the better of them. But if there are any more incidents like this, you will be receiving in school suspension. Do you understand?”

“Miss Snyder… may I ask a question?” I ask her. “If you saw someone doing something like that to somebody that you care about- your spouse, or even your son- wouldn’t you have done the same thing? Wouldn’t you want to tear them apart, limb from limb?”

My mom kicks me under the desk.

“Ashley, you cannot just act violently towards people like some sort of vigilante,” Miss Snyder lectures. “There’s a system in place to deal with situations like this. If you see another student being bullied, you need to tell a teacher and let them take care of it.”

“Right. Miss Snyder, I’m going to be frank with you,” I say. “The teachers here don’t give a damn about us. This is not an isolated incident. Things like this have been happening for the past two weeks, consistently. Sometimes in the middle of class, when a teacher was sitting right there. And they haven’t done a single thing about it.”

“Ashley… how about you to get to your last class,” my mom interjects. “I’d like to talk to the counselor by myself. And after school, we’re going to have a serious talk about this as well.”

“Sounds good to me,” I say. I get up from my chair and leave the office before Miss Snyder can override her. On my way out, I make brief eye contact with my mom, and her gaze… doesn’t tell me much. Typical.

* * *

<Anja>

I walk into the practice room in the back, and am surprised to see that Nova is in there, on his 3DS. I guess he wanted to get a quick round in before marching band starts. He’s already in his shorts.

“Oh, hey there,” I say to him as I walk in.

“’Sup?”

“Hey Nova… can you turn around for a moment?”

“Uh, okay.” He does so.

I grab my own shorts out of my backpack, and slip into them. “Alright… see you on the field,” I tell him.

I step out the practice room and make to go outside, but I hear a voice addressing me.

“Did you really just change in a practice room?” it asks.

I turn and see that it’s Diana Coleman the flute player, who’s leaning on a pillar on her phone.

“Well, the other girls don’t like it when I change in the bathroom, now don’t they?” I explain to her.

She looks up at me with a leer. “I know about you. You’re _Anja_ , aren’t you?”

“I sure am. I think I’ve heard of you as well. Don’t you like to sneak up on people, take videos of them when they’re doing something compromising, and then send that video to everyone in the school?”

“If you mean your _girlfriend_ Ashley, she deserved it.”

“First of all; Ashley isn’t my girlfriend. Second; no, she most certainly did not deserve it! Nobody deserves to have their privacy compromised like that.”

“If she’s not your girlfriend, why are you sticking up for her? She is such a total… b-word all the time.”

“Trust me, I am very aware of her personal flaws. For one, however, I consider her my friend, and she has many admirable qualities. She is determined; courageous; remains in control during a scary situation; and has a strong moral compass deep down. Also, even if we assume for a moment that Ashley is this evil person who deserves punishment; is it really okay to act cruelly towards somebody because we consider them immoral? Doesn’t that make us just as bad?”

“Not if you’re just getting them back for what they’ve done to you.”

“But then… when does it end? Think about whatever it was she did to you… and then everything that has happened since. I don’t know what set you against her… but surely, justice must be more than served now, right?”

I see the gears turning. Her face seems to soften a bit. “Fine… I guess I sort of see your point.”

At that point, I am saved from this awkward conversation by Nova, who comes out of the practice room after me. “What are you doing, Anja?” he says, uncharacteristically chiding. “Practice starts in five minute! Let’s go!”

* * *

<Ashley>

When mom comes by to pick up Zoe and I, she asks me to get into the passenger’s seat instead of sitting in the back with Zoe. This is not a good sign.

What’s also not a good sign is that once we leave, there’s about five minutes of solid silence. Finally, after we are already halfway home, my mom breaks the silence.

“Hmm… Ashley… Why did you have to break her nose.”

“I told you. She was…”

“No, hush. I meant… why did you break her nose, instead of just… giving her a bitch slap, or something like that. That would’ve been a much better move.”

“I don’t know, Mom. If you define ‘better’ by how much pain the other person feels, it wouldn’t have been.”

Mom shakes her head. “Ashley. I know that you’re having a hard time with everything. But you’re going to have to grow up a little.”

I feel my anger flare up again. _I_ need to _grow up_? That’s rich.

“Mom, you would’ve done the same thing in my place. Don’t lie.”

She pauses for a while. Then, she exhales and says, “You’re right. When I was your age, I would’ve done the same thing. In fact, I probably would’ve done something worse.”

Wow. I wasn’t expecting her to actually reply honestly.

“I don’t want you to do what I would’ve done,” she explains. “I was always the impulsive one. In this case, you should really act more like your father. He thinks everything through- sometimes to the point of being exhaustive. But because of that, he always comes back down to earth with great ideas.”

“I wasn’t acting impulsively,” I say in my defense. “It was all premeditated. Like I told that counselor, this has been happening for weeks. We’ve been sneered at, and intimidated, and called all sorts of names.”

“And you think that’s just going to stop now, huh?”

“Yes. I’ve shown what happens when people mess with us. They’d better leave us alone now.”

Mom shakes her head, visibly frustrated. I can’t help but to notice that the car is getting steadily faster.

“No, Ashley. In the grown-up world, being the ‘big tough guy’ doesn’t really work. I mean, honestly. George W. Bush wanted to be a big tough guy, and look how well that… _Damn it!”_

I turn around and look out the back window to see that a police car is following us and flashing lights. I also catch a glimpse of Zoe, since she hasn’t made a peep this whole ride home. She’s intently staring out the window, her leg twitching slightly.

Anyways, Mom pulls over into a nearby parking lot.

The officer walks up to our side window. He’s a bit slimmer than your average police officer, but otherwise looks like your typical white guy. That said… I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen him before.

“Good afternoon ma’am, I’m Officer Caleb Snyder, I pulled you over because you were driving 47 miles per hours in a 35 mile per hour zone,” the officer says in a hurry.

“Oh, no… I’m sorry, officer. I’m having a bad day. I promise that it won’t happen again,” my mom says stiffly.

“Well, I understand, but I’m still gonna have to…”

“Did you say that your name is Officer Snyder?” Zoe asks unexpectedly.

Officer Snyder pauses for a bit, startled. “Um… yes ma’am.”

“Do you have a wife who works at the school?” Zoe asks.

“Why yes, I do,” he says. Suddenly, it occurs to me where I’ve seen him; that Yosemite vacation picture in the back of the counselor’s office. It’s a small world, but it’s an even smaller town.

“Well, what a coincidence!” my mom chimes in. “It must have been your wife we were just talking to earlier today.”

“Oh, is that so?” he asks.

“Yes sir. Unfortunately we didn’t meet in the best of circumstances; disciplinary issue with this one,” she explains, gesturing at me.

“Ah, troublemaker, are you?” he asks me, leaning through the window and grinning at me.

I’m about to say “no,” but then I remember that I recently viciously attack a local politician with a sword. “In a sense,” I say.

“Well, I’d better remember to keep an eye on you,” he says, but his tone is joking. “As I was saying, I’m still gonna have to give a warning. This won’t be on your record, it’s just a written note explaining why I pulled you over.”

“Okay. Thank you, officer,” my mom says.

He spends an agonizingly long time writing up the note, and then hands it to my mom. “You have a good day, ma’am.”

“You as well, officer.”

After he drives away, we set back out on the road.

“Anyways, Ashley… I think that you’re going to find yourself paying dearly for this in the coming days,” my mom continues.

“What, the fact that you got pulled over?”

“You know what I mean, smart mouth.”

There’s a pause. Then, my mom just has to get one last word in.

“I know that this is probably the last thing you want to hear right now, but… ‘If somebody slaps you on one cheek, turn the other to them as well. If they want to sue you for your shirt, give them your coat as well. And if you are forced to walk a mile by this person, walk two.’”

She’s right. That _is_ the last thing I want to hear right now.


	29. Butterfly Farm (September 16 & 17)

<Anja>

It’s yet another morning. Funny how’s it’s only mid-September, and I’m already sick of school.

I’m a bit crankier today than my usual chipper self, because today is the day that my Aunt Kierstyn is moving away. Last week, she got a call that she was needed somewhere else in the state, and she’s had to get up and leave in a hurry. It’s all rather sudden, so I haven’t had much time to try and process my emotions on this. I’m going to go see her once more before she leaves after school today, but I’m still rather down about it all.

But still, I show up at school and walk into our usual practice room. Neither Ashley nor Zoe are there, what are they up to? Nova is there, but unusually, he has his algebra book out and open, and is looking down at it with a look of disgust.

“Good morning, my fine fellow,” I say to him. “Doing homework?”

“Uh… no, not really.”

I sit down across from him. “Looking through your algebra book for leisure, then?”

“No, of course not. I was going to try doing this assignment, but I can’t focus.”

“Okay. When is it due?”

“Today. First period.”

“Well, you don’t exactly have… any more time to put it off, don’t you?”

He just shrugs, and pulls out his 3DS.

“Now, Nova, weren’t you just saying to me the other day that you wanted to get your schoolwork under control?”

“Yeah. But it’s too late. I’ll just start the next assignment earlier.”

If anyone else said this to me, I’d probably make fun of them. But, I realize that Nova is different than most people. Which means that in order for him to get the same work done, he’s going to have to strategize a little differently.

“May I make a suggestion?” I say to him. “Instead of giving up if you can’t focus… take something that are you _are_ interested in… like playing video games… and use it as a reward. For example, if you are playing Mario Kart 7, you can do a problem or two, and then do a race, and alternate between the two like that.”

“Hmm… I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get it done in time at that rate,” he comments.

I can’t help but to sigh. “Okay, try it next time, then. Anyways, what are you playing? I’ll join in with you.”

* * *

<Zoe>

After school that day, Ashley and I huddle together on her bed to do an English assignment. Specifically, the reading log for _To Kill a Mockingbird_. We both lay on our fronts with the reading logs in front of us, mirroring each other.

“Okay… protagonist. Scout Finch," Ashley is rattling off. "Though come to think of it, she really doesn’t do much… Shouldn’t Atticus be the protagonist, in a sense? Imagine that. A story that’s from the perspective of a young girl, but her parents are more important to the wider, overarching plot than she is… Anyways, antagonist. Bob Ewell."

We both write that down onto our respective papers.

“Well, that’s the easy part,” she says. “Alright, you think you can do the next one?”

I look down at the paper. The next thing we have to fill out is _setting_.

“Um… somewhere in the south.”

I look at Ashley, who just wordlessly stares back at me.

“I’m sorry… I’m so tired, I can hardly think,” I admit to her.

“Understandable. All of the drama… constant schoolwork… and marching band. It wears you down,” she says. “Actually… Can I ask you a personal question?”

“What is that?”

“What motivates you to do your school work? Why do you keep at it?”

“Well, I really value getting my education,” I reply without thinking. “I try and be diligent in my school work so that I can learn as much as I can.

“Hmm. That’s a pretty good reason, I suppose.”

“What about you?”

“Honestly, Zoe? I don’t really have a good reason at all. The only real reason I work so hard at school is because I just like seeing my numbers go as high as possible. It’s one of the few ways that I can prove my status.”

She lets out a large sigh. “And I guess I sort apply that to band as well. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I do really love music. And it’s when I feel that love of music that I have my best practice sessions. But then, there are other days where I only think about getting ahead at the next audition. Those are the ones in which practicing only fills me with frustration and hatred. Then again, I suppose that’s just how I spend most of my life…”

“What do you mean?” I ask, startled by this proclamation. “Hatred of what?”

“I don’t know. Myself. My life. The world around me. Does it matter?”

She puts down her pencil and sits up. “It’s stupid… to only want to succeed to rub it in other people’s faces. I wish I could do what I do just because I love learning or whatever…”

I feel a little guilty, so I decide to spill the beans. “Well… If I’m honest, that’s not really why I do school work either. When I really think about it… I do it because I’m afraid. I’m always amazed when I hear about the nightmares that you have, and how it’s always about alien invasions, or wars, or big things like that. My nightmares are always so simple. They’re always about me failing a test… not getting good enough grades… disappointing my family in some way or another.”

“Wow, they really screwed you up,” Ashley comments.

“I wasn’t trying to lie to you. It’s just… I’m never supposed to talk about stuff like this. So I’ve sort of… trained myself to give answers like that when people ask me. Most people are happy with me just saying that I love learning, you know?”

“Well Zoe, I don’t want you to have to feel the need to hide who are you anymore. I mean… you’ve already ripped off the bandage, so to speak. Maybe sometime… we should go on a date together, and just talk. Just the two of us. No need to be afraid of anything.”

I can’t help but to blush a little bit. Which is stupid, because we literally already live together. “A date… I think I would like that. Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. Try and think of a good place. And I don’t mean tonight, we really need to finish this. But… whenever we can. Anyways, setting: Maycomb, Alabama, the 1930s…”

* * *

<Anja>

After band is over, I drive up to my Aunt Kierstyn’s place, for the last time. It looks like I got there in the nick of time- the moving truck has left already, and she’s packing the last few boxes into her car as I pull into the driveway.

I walk up to her as she is closing the trunk. “Hi there, Aunt Kierstyn…” I say.

“Oh, hey Anja.”

“I wanted to come and see you one more time before you left.”

“Yes, I will be leaving in a matter of moments, I nearly have everything packed up now.” She kneels down a little bit to be on my height and smiles at me. “You look really sad- don’t be so down, Anja. I’m not going far, I promise.”

“Yes, well, I’ll still miss you. I always enjoy it when I’m able to come over.”

“Well, I’m glad that there’s at least one person in the world who likes seeing me. You take care of yourself while I’m gone, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

She opens her arms to me, and I walk into them and give her a big hug, which she returns.

“And Anja… remember a while back? When we discussed a certain something?” she asks me after we finally break apart.

“Oh, do you mean the Met-“

“Yes, don’t say it out here please. I just wanted to tell you… I don’t know what that friend of yours might be doing, but please, for your own good, do _not_ fuck around with any of that stuff. Can you promise me that, Anja?”

I gulp. Hopefully she didn’t hear. “Okay. I promise,” I lie.

We say our final goodbyes, and then I have to watch her drive away. I take a moment before I drive back home to wipe away my tears.

I know she’ not my mom. I know I can never replace her. But it was something, to have my mom’s sister around. And now that she’s gone, I feel so… alone.

* * *

The next day…

<Collin>

‘Sup fools. It’s Collin.

What, you don’t know who I am? I’m Zoe Parker’s little brother! Come on, remember that one scene in which she talked to me for like a whole minute? Alright, you don’t remember me. That’s fine. I get it.

So, you know how parents lie to their kids a lot? Everyone has stories about how they waited in the living room on Christmas Day waiting for Santa Claus to show up, only to see that “Santa” is actually just your dad. The best part about that whole charade is the whole milk and cookies thing. Like, they literally just make up this whole thing so that they have an excuse to give themselves cookies in the middle of the night.

Also, a lot of parents don’t want to tell their kids that their pets are dead, so they’ll say that the pet ran away to a “butterfly farm” or some shit like that. I know this because my parents actually tried to pull that on me when our old dog, Toby, passed away.

Oh, it’s okay Collin, Toby isn’t dead, he’s just on the butterfly farm, endlessly frolicking and enjoying life forever. You could at least tell me that he’s in Doggy Heaven or wherever. I’m not sure how accurate that is, because I don’t think the Bible explicitly says that animals go to heaven. But it’d at least be _closer_ to the truth.

The punchline is that they’re doing it again. But instead of doing with a pet, they’re doing it with MY SISTER!

You see, the reason why my parents say stuff like this is because they’re just trying to hide what really happened from me. And this time, I think it’s a lot more damning. And I don’t just mean because they’re trying to pull it with a human. I mean, at least when Toby died, that wasn’t really my parents’ fault. You see where I’m going with this?

Because nobody talks about it. Nobody wants to discuss the rather horrifying scene Derrick and I had to endure a couple of weeks ago. Whenever I ask a question like, “Is she coming home soon” or “Do we need to move her stuff to the other house,” they just get angry and don’t give a straight answer. So it’s basically the equivalent of the “butterfly farm” thing.

Oh, it’s okay Collin, we didn’t massively fuck up. Zoe’s just on the butterfly farm. Or in this case, she’s on the… uh… gay farm.

Yeah, the gay farm. You know how on a regular farm, you spend all this time raising cows and pigs and chickens and shit, and then you just kill them and eat their meat for dinner? Well, on the gay farm, you can spend as long as fourteen-fifteen years raising a _homo sapien_ , and then just get rid of them when you found out, uh oh! They were made wrong in the womb. And so now we have all of these gays running around, homeless, mentally ill… and that’s why we have Tumblr. So thanks, gay farm. Thank you so much for indirectly inflicting Tumblr on the rest of us.

Okay, I got a little off topic with that bit. Anyways, it’s all a cover up. And when you’re involved in a cover up, you gotta go all the way.

Anyways, so I’ve found myself getting dragged along in this… cover up operation. Basically, my parents are trying to use their connections to somehow spin this in their favor. So that’s why we’re at the local court house today.

So there’s this Justice Pavia guy, right? And he looks just like what you’re thinking. If you just picture in your head what the stereotypical local judge looks like, you’re picturing this guy.

And Dad is like, “Why good afternoon there sir justice sir,”

And the judge is like, “Dude what the fuck are you doing in my office I’m supposed to working right now, dipshit.” Okay, he didn’t actually say that. These aren’t their exact words, I’m just paraphrasing.

And Dad is like, “Well we have an urgent matter to discuss and it can’t wait.”

And the judge is like, “Okay, why’d you bring your kids?” Okay, he didn’t actually ask that, but I wish he had. I don’t want to be doing this boring shit.

And Dad is like, “Yeah well you should know that our daughter was _kidnapped_ and so that we hope that if anyone ever raises this to court you’ll side with us, because it’s not our fault and she was _kidnapped_.”

And the judge is like, “Yeah well if she was really kidnapped go to the police you dumb fuck.” (Once again, not exact words.)

And Mom is like, “Dude you know why we’re here we’re just saying you need to take our side.”

And the judge is like, “Yeah well fuck you I’ll do what’s right under the law now leave me alone.”

And Mom is like, “Yeah well we’ve supported you a long time and you better do what we say or else you may find yourself losing your re-election.”

And the judge was like, “Lol I’m not losing my re-election, who’s gonna beat me, JARED CARSON?” I don’t know who that is but the judge thought that was pretty funny.

And then my parents bitch at him and get all pissy and they storm out and wow, that backfired on them. I thought that this guy was pretty much totally in their pocket, but it seems that he’s grown a backbone recently and is now actually gonna do his job. Good on him.

And I mean, I’m not even sure why this would go to court. I guess maybe Ashley’s parents could make some sort of case because my folks are neglecting their child, or maybe her parents will try to get legal custody of Zoe and they don’t want that even though they aren’t really making any attempt to get her back so I don’t know what their plan is. Anyways, clearly my parents were worried about _something_ happening in the courts.

And dude, this is just stupid beyond belief. At least when Nixon fucked up, sure he tried to cover it up at first but eventually he resigned when he was caught in the act, sparing us from having to go through a lengthy and ugly Senate trial. (Author’s note: Remember that this story takes place in 2014, so anything that seems like a reference to current events is a coincidence.)

But no, we’re dragging this out all the way, it looks like.

* * *

<Ashley>

It’s time for another Skype lesson with Sarah today.

“Hello there, Ashley!” she greets me cheerily, as the video comes up on my laptop.

I’ve probably never mentioned it, but… Sarah is totally gorgeous. I always felt a little flustered being around her back when we did our lessons in person. I always tell people that she’s like my “cool aunt,” but thankfully she’s not actually literally my aunt or else being this attracted to her would be weird. I guess I just really like blondes…

“Hey. What’s on the menu this week?” I ask.

However, she tilts her head sideways at me and says, “You seem troubled.”

“Yeah, well, a lot has been going on with me recently,” I explain.

“Want to talk about anything? You know, we don’t always have to be strictly professional. If you ever need help with any personal issues, I’m here for you. Don’t tell my other students I said that, though…”

I think about this for a second. I don’t know, it still seems inappropriate to talk about stuff like that with her. And how would Sarah even react to me being a lesbian, anyway? Actually… maybe I can take this opportunity to ask her something I’ve always wondered.

Sarah has never married, nor even been in any sort of relationship as far as I can remember. It’s a little unusual for someone her age. I always kind of wondered if she might be a lesbian herself. I know that in the old days, most people who were gay would either pose as straight or would simply not marry.

“Well… Can I ask you something?” I say.

“Sure thing!”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but… why have you never gotten married?”

She chuckles a little. “Oh, I suppose I just _haven’t met the right person yet_.” She says that last part really sarcastically.

“You mean… you’ve never met someone you liked enough before?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’ve met many great people in my life, whom I consider friends. But… I’ve always kind of felt like I’m not really the marrying type.”

She doesn’t really elaborate on that, but I’d like to get to the bottom of this now.

“But in our culture, there is a heavy pressure put on people to get married- especially women. Do you ever feel any shame that you’re defying that?” I ask.

“I wouldn’t say I feel shame about it… but it is aggravating. I won’t deny that I am very… sought after by men. It’s a chore to have to constantly turn people down. I’ve had to get really good at noticing when people are trying to flirt so I can put a stop to it quickly.”

“Is it just men? Do you ever get hit on by other women?”

She giggles at this. “Occasionally. More so recently, given how the times are changing. Are you bringing this up because you’re trying to figure out if I’m also a lesbian?”

 _Also_ , she said. She already knows.

“Well… I was curious. So… you’ve figured me out, huh?

“I do maintain regular contact with your dad, so I know more or less what’s happening.”

“Ah, okay. Thanks for mentioning that earlier.”

“Sorry. I didn’t want to bring it up if you weren’t willing to talk about it. And so that we can quit dancing around this question- I’m not a lesbian. You’re not the first person to ask me that, you know. I just am not really interested in dating in general.”

“So, do you think you might be asexual?”

She gives me a perplexed look. “A… sexual???”

“Yeah. It means you’re not attracted to people of any gender.”

“I’ve never heard that word used before, except in science class. What are you kids going to come up with next?”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it. Trust me.”

She laughs at this. “Okay Ashley, I’ll take your word for it. Anyways… anything else you want to ask me?”

“Nope. Let’s get to the music now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you may have noticed an error Ashley made in her conversation with Sarah... if you don't know what I'm talking about, you can check the comments section of this chapter for more info.


	30. The Mob (September 18- Part 1)

<Zoe>

It’s a cloudy, mild morning today. It must have rained overnight, because the roads are wet.

Ashley has a dentist’s appointment this morning, which means that I am dropped off by myself. Not having Ashley around makes me feel a little bit nervous.

After I put away my instruments, I sit down in a chair near the front of the band hall. For the past few days, Ashley and I have been spending mornings in the library, but since she is not here, there’s not much point to going in there. Hmm… maybe I should go there anyway, though. The chairs there are comfortable…

“Zoe! You have to tell me. Is it true?”

Startled, I look up to see two people standing over me whom I’d rather not be talking to: Diana and Terra. Ever since… the thing happened, they’ve been giving me the cold shoulder during our classes, so I haven’t actually talked to them in a couple of weeks.

“Uh… is what true?” I ask.

There’s something funny going on. Diana is in one of her… gossipy moods, I can tell by how deeply she’s breathing.

“I just heard… Terra told me… Uh… You explain it,” Diana says disjointedly.

“Zoe, let me just say, that… I’m sorry. I really am,” Terra says. I feel my heart lighten. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t have gotten you out of this situation. I did try, but… it seems as if things are only getting worse for you.”

“Oh, well… I’ve been managing to survive,” I reply, though I’m a little confused as to what she’s talking about.

“But you shouldn’t have to live like this,” Terra continues. “You don’t need to be afraid. Your family… they want you to return home. Don’t worry, we’ll protect you.”

I’m really confused now. “You’ll protect me… from who? My family?”

Diana looks a little confused too, as she’s lost a bit of her gusto. “Zoe, you have to tell me if it’s true,” she urges me again. “About… what Ashley does to you.”

“What… does she do?” I ask.

“Well, due to recent events, we now all know about Ashley’s… violent temperament,” Terra explains. “I mean it- we’ll protect you. You don’t need to be afraid of her.”

My heart plummets again. “N-no. I’m not afraid of her.”

“Come on, Zoe. We’re trying to help,” Terra says, though her eyes narrow a little in anger.

“I don’t need help. Ashley… she loves me. And I love her. I’m not being forced to do anything.”

Terra draws herself to full height and looks down at me with a look of disdain. “So… it looks like she’s already got you brainwashed.”

“I’ve heard of this,” Diana frantically interjects, her eyes wild. “I think it’s called… Stockholm Syndrome!”

“Hey, what’s going on over here?” I hear a new voice say.

I see Anja walk up to the other two, and I feel immensely relieved. Even if she’s not as tough as Ashley is, it’ll be a major relief to have someone else on my side.

“We’re… trying to help Zoe out of her relationship,” Diana explains. “We think Ashley may be abusing her. But Zoe won’t admit it!”

Anja frowns and turns to me. “Zoe, is this true? Is Ashley abusing you?”

“No,” I say.

“And… do either of you have evidence on the contrary?” Anja asks. “If not… that kind of settles the matter.”

“You wanna know something? I don’t really care what you think,” Terra says to Anja, looking at with her such pure venom that even Diana looks a little nervous. “You know, this is really all your fault. You couldn’t just be content being a dyke loser, now could you?”

“D-don’t call her that,” I say meekly.

Terra turns towards me so quickly it’s uncanny. “What?”

“I said… don’t call her that,” I say again. The effect is sort of ruined by the fact that I’m cowering, though.

“Well. Looks like we have a whole little sect going. I tried to warn you. It’s a disease, Zoe. And guess what? I'm done. Until you come to your senses, I’m not going to stick up for you. You’re going to get what’s coming to you. Maybe it’s too late to save you, but at the very least, we can stop it from spreading!”

And with that, she storms off, leaving me sitting there in utter shock. Diana looks at me timidly.

“Zoe… please. Come back to us. You can put a stop to all of this right now,” Diana pleads. “Please, Zoe. You were like, my best friend.”

It’s too much. I start crying yet again.

“If I was your b-best friend… why? Why did you do it?” I ask in between sniffles.

“Zoe… I never wanted to hurt you,” she says.

“Well, you did. You sniveling _bitch_.”

Diana turns towards Anja, shocked. Anja looks absolutely livid; like she’s barely holding back from stabbing her.

“ _You_ started this. Not her. _You_ can put a stop to all of this right now. You’re the reason why Zoe got kicked out of her own god damn house, after all! But no. It’s too bad you’re too big of a coward.”

“Don’t… call me a coward, you _slut_!” Diana hisses back, going red in the face. “I’m just trying to help her by keeping her away from… creeps like you!” On that note, she quickly walks out of the band hall.

“Fucking bitch,” Anja spits. “Come on, Zoe, let’s go somewhere else.”

I don’t need her to tell me twice- the argument drew the eyes of everyone else in the band hall. Why does this keep happening to me? I just want to disappear…

I follow her to the back of the hall, and it looks like she’s about to head back into that practice room with all the percussion equipment. However, while we’re passing by Mr. Castro’s office, the door opens.

“Zoe. May I have a word?” Mr. Castro says.

“Oh, um… okay,” I reply.

“Step into my office,” he says gently.

I walk in and take a seat in one of his chair. Though she wasn’t asked to, Anja follows me in and takes the other chair. Mr. Castro doesn’t seem to mind, however. He goes back behind his desk and also sits down.

“You seem to be doing a lot of crying recently,” he observes. “What’s been going on with you?”

Though he doesn’t say it judgmentally, I still feel a little guilty.

“Zoe has been dealing with a lot of bullying recently,” Anja explains in my stead.

Mr. Castro peers over the desk at me, looking a little stern. “Those two girls who you were talking to… Are they the ones bothering you?”

“It’s… not just them,” I explain. “There’s… a lot of kids doing it.”

“Have you reported any of this to another teacher or a counselor?”

“I… don’t think that they really care, sir,” I say.

“Well, I do. I can’t really do anything about what’s happening outside of the band program… but I want you to be able to feel safe when you’re here. If anyone ever bothers you while you’re in the band hall, tell them that I told you to come to my office, and then come in here. Then, you can tell me about whatever just happened, and stay in here as long as you need to.”

“Oh… thank you very much!” I say, feeling a warm glow in my chest.

* * *

A few minutes later, we are walking into the library, as I was able to talk Anja into coming here. She, in turn, talked Nova into coming.

However, immediately after we walk in, Anja quickly comes to a stop, and I almost run into her.

“Um… Okay, on second thought, let’s not be here right now.”

“Why is that?” I ask her.

She looks very uncomfortable. “Uh… well…”

“Come on, Anja, we’re already here!” Nova protests. “Can we just sit down?”

“Um… okay. Sorry,” Anja says sheepishly.

The library is pretty nice. It has a row of computers down the middle, with tables on either side for classwork, and in the back are a set of armchairs with a circular table, which is where Ashley and I usually go to study. Almost nobody is here, relative to its size. There is a boy using a computer whom I think is one of the trumpet players in band; the librarian, sitting behind the desk half-asleep; a couple of students on the right side of the library playing a board game; and a single, overweight Mexican girl sitting a couple of tables in front of our armchair spot, who is deeply immersed in a chemistry textbook.

We make our way to the back and take our respective seats. After Anja sits down, she shoots a nervous glance at the Mexican girl, but the girl doesn’t even seem to notice us.

“So… where’s Ashley today?” Anja asks, as Nova gets his game system back out.

“She’s at a dentist’s appointment,” I explain.

“Ah, that explains it. Anyways, I didn’t really buy that Ashley was being abusive towards you. She may be abrasive, but just being abrasive is a far shot from being a total scumbag, and I know that she’s made of better stuff than that.”

“Still, can you really blame the others for believing that?” Nova interjects. “Given how Ashley is.”

“Yes, I can, because there just isn’t any evidence for it,” Anja explains. “Still, I understand what you’re saying. People are irrational. There is a tendency for everyone to jump onto these hate mobs without trying to verify the claims with any actual facts. Especially if it’s someone who’s already disliked.”

She turns towards me. “Zoe, while we’re on the subject… is it true that Ashley broke someone’s nose the other day?”

“Yes, it is,” I admit. “There was a girl in the hallway who pushed me into a locker, and Ashley came up and… did that.”

“Hehe… I’m not too surprised. I’ve seen Ashley’s more violent side first hand. After watching her utterly eviscerate some of those shadows…”

“Hey! Don’t talk about that here!” Nova cuts in, and I understand what they’re talking about: this is something that happened in that other world.

“Oh… right,” Anja says, glancing again towards the Mexican girl. Thankfully, she hasn’t made any sign that she heard us.

* * *

<Collin>

Uh oh… looks like I’m about to get busted.

I’m in the kitchen snitching a few cookies, when there’s a knock at the door. Oddly, both of my parents leave the master bedroom to go answer it.

I peak through the bar area to see that it’s the pastor of our church- Mr. Palmer. A tall, thin man, his graying hair buzz cut, yet imposing all the same.

“Good evening,” he says solemnly.

“Thank you for being here this evening,” Mom says. “Please, take a seat…”

This is a fairly normal occurrence around here. The pastor, as well as a bunch of other boring adults, will sometimes come by to talk to my parents about boring adult stuff. Usually I ignore it… but given recent events, I think it might be interesting to see what they’re about to talk about. Besides, it’s not like I can get back to my room without passing them, so either way my goose is cooked.

“So, tell me,” Mr. Palmer says. “Did you have any look with your connection?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Dad replies. “We’re getting the cold shoulder at the moment.”

“And the police department?”

“They apparently can’t do anything else without evidence. And that Sheriff Hurt is quite the stubborn man. It looks like we may have more than one election to arrange soon.”

“Never mind that for now. You’ve done what you can. It’s a shame. I’m afraid something strange is happening to this town.”

“You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie!” I hear the sounds of Dad putting up the footrest of a chair. “That girl’s parents… they’re just letting it all happen! And they call themselves conservatives. Well, I say they’re _wimps_.”

“Jared… I’m worried about my daughter,” Mom says. “You see it on the news all the time these days… People go that way… And they don’t come back.”

“Well, there are ways of bringing people out of that. But first things first- we need to focus on returning your daughter home.”

“What do you have in mind?” Dad asks. “What do you being by ‘bringing people out of that’?”

“I do know of a place… faith based, of course. I know the couple who runs it, they’re very nice people. It’s a place that can treat people with that condition… people like your daughter.”

In a rush, I realize what he’s talking about. I completely lose my shit and walk straight out into the living room.

“Wait a minute! You’re talking about sending her to… conversion therapy!” I say.

“Collin, what on Earth are you doing out here?” My mom accosts, glaring at me.

“Mom, Dad, you can’t send her there!” I plead. “Those places… they mess people up! All the experts say that they commit human rights violations!”

“You mean that _liberals_ say that,” Dad contradicts. “You can’t trust a word out of those folk’s mouths.”

My mom stand up from the couch and looms over me. “Collin, do not speak up about matters that are best left for adults to decide. We are going to do whatever it takes to get your sister back, and we will do whatever is best for her.”

“If you want her back so badly, how about saying ‘I’m sorry’?” I argue. “Maybe actually listen to her, and take just a hint of responsibility?”

“Do not try to pin this on us!” Dad yells. “Do you think we wanted her to just run away from home like that?”

“’I will not have a homosexual in this house,’ you said. That’s a direct quote. How else was she supposed to interpret that?”

My mom has had enough, and she grabs me by the ear.

“Ow! Let me go!” I protest. I hate it when she does that!

“Collin, you need to _shut your mouth_ and go back to your room,” she lectures, her voice like acid. “And later, we are going to be having a serious talk about your behavior.”

She drags me back into my room. As she does, I catch a glimpse of Mr. Palmer’s face. It’s a look of disappointment… but there’s also a savage look in his eyes, which is unsettling.

Mom shoved me into my room and shuts the door in my face.

Well… on the bright side, I _totally_ got away with snitching those cookies.

But this whole thing is going from bad to worse. Actually, it was already worse. Now it’s _worser_.

I resist in the only way I currently can. I get onto my computer and pull up Skype.


	31. No Return (September 18- Part 2)

<Ashley>

Well, here I am again. Walking under a starless sky. Walking through my familiar town, made strange by its bulging veins and jarring colors. Walking the same route that we drive every Sunday- or, more accurately, the one that we _used to_ drive. Knowing that dark fog surrounding us conceals inevitable dangers. But we’re almost done for today, so surely we can survive whatever is still coming for us.

I guess it was only about a month ago that I walked this exact same path, except then, I did it scared, alone, helpless, clothed in pajamas, and with nothing but my fists for self-defense. This time, I walk with…

“…I mean, recently there have been a wave of Tea Party judges elected across the state. You should know, we fought one of them,” Anja prattles on. “They have recently been responsible for giving too much power to landlords. We already kind of had a problem with that. San Marcos is infamous nation-wide for college students getting fucked over by landlords.”

“Okay, nice theory,” I reply. “A couple of nitpicks, though- Pavia has been in office for a while, he was here before the early 2010s Tea Party wave. Second- I don’t understand the correlation you’re drawing here between deficit hawking and the rights of property renters.”

“Come on, Ashley! Don’t be naïve. You know the real reason why these people want to cut government spending.”

“Yeah, I do. It’s so that you and I won’t have to be burdened with a fifty trillion dollar national debt by the time we’re the age of our parents.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What’s your big fixation on that, anyway?”

“Well, more deficit spending means more money available for lenders; aka Wall Street, whom liberals weren’t super happy with last I checked; faster inflation, higher interest rates, and eventually a national security risk as foreign adversaries will start buying up our debt to use as leverage. We need to start dealing with this now, because by the turn of the decade, the baby boomers will be retiring, which means that Social Security is going to be running at even more of a loss than it is now.”

“Yes, well, first of all, if the money is managed properly and is aimed at helping the working class, the benefits of the program will outweigh the negative side effects, creating a net positive for poor Americans- unless the deficit spending is more giveaways to the super rich or corporate welfare. Second, the current rate of inflation is… AAARGH!”

That is the scream that can only mean one thing: there are wasps amok. Sure enough, I see three of them coming from my left.

“Finally, something to smash!” Nova shouts, actually sounding relieved.

“You ought to have been paying attention just then, Nova,” I tell him. “Someday we’ll all be voting age. There’s more to life than just video games, you know.”

“Don’t make me zap you, bitch!” Nova retorts, branding Mjölnir at me threateningly.

On that note, we get into battle positions. By this point, we’ve pretty much figured out some solid team strategies for dealing with each different type of enemy. Wasps go down the fastest when you get up close and personal, but you have to keep your wits about you, as those fuckers are fast. Since Anja and Ted don’t really have a great up-close game, they hang back and provide ranged support. (Anja also hangs back partially because she’s a wuss.) Nova and I go in with our respective melee weapons. In this case, we’re able to take them out pretty easily between just the two of us. Anja only has to use her wind attack once to disorient them so they don’t attack our backs after we take out the first one. I have to hand it to Nova- he’s actually fairly decent at this. He has good reflexes when his head is in the game.

After dealing with the wasps, however, something isn’t right. I swear I feel something rumbling…

“Ha! No insect stands a chance against us,” Nova brags.

I see something running up to us from behind him… it looks like an enormous black bear.

“Nova! Get out of the way!” I shout at him frantically.

He frowns at me. “What? Why?”

The bear promptly knocks him aside and into a tree.

Yeah… “When his head is in the game,” isn’t all the time, unfortunately.

“Wow, look at that!” Anja shouts. “I guess I’m finally going to become a true Texan and use my right to _bear_ arms!” She takes aim at the bear.

“Anja, I’m pretty sure you’ve made that joke before,” I say. “Anyways, don’t get a trigger finger, I want to do something first.”

Normally, when we run into larger enemies, I like to weaken them up with my weird light attack, but… I don’t think I have one of those in me right now, I’ve had to use a lot of magic today. Thankfully, I unlocked another move last week which accomplishes a similar purpose.

I take my sword and swing it behind me, switching it between my arms a few times. I do this so quickly, that it becomes imbued with some sort of golden aura. Then, I send my sword crashing through the enemy, slicing apart the very fabric of space-time itself. It doesn’t use any magic, but there is still a drawback: I’m left feeling exhausted immediately afterwards.

Once I’m done with my attack, Anja takes advantage of the few seconds that the bear is stunned to open fire, slowly closing in on it. It seems to do a pretty decent damage. I start creeping up behind, hoping to jump up onto it while it’s focused on Anja and slice its neck.

However, the bear does something odd. It stands up on its hind legs and then slams its whole body into the ground. It sends a shockwave through the ground that knocks me straight off my feet. My head hits the ground, and I lose consciousness.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, I wake up to Anja using her healing move on me. She’s looked better- she has a large, bleeding cut on one of her cheeks.

“How… did you get cut?” I ask. “You have a gun as your weapon.”

“You’re welcome!” she replies cheerily. She reaches out her hand helps pull me to my feet.

I survey the rest of the team. Nova doesn’t look physically hurt, but he is panting and sweating. Ted has several scuff marks on his shell.

“So, did you win against the bear?” I ask.

“Yeah, but he was… pant… a tough son of a bitch,” Nova responds.

“And by the way… wind attacks do not affect bears,” Anja comments. “I got to learn that the hard way.” I am only barely able to bite back my sarcastic reply.

Ted uses his party-wide healing move on us. Anja’s cut stiches itself shut right in front of my eyes.

“Team… we’ve made a decent amount of progress as a team since the last palace,” I declare. “But yet… there is still work to be done. C’mon, let’s continue on.”

* * *

We finally arrive at the First Baptist Church, and I am very startled to find it looking quite different than it did when I first awakened my persona here. It doesn’t even look much like a building anymore; its walls and ceiling have become soft, fleshy, and pulsating.

“Well, that’s… utterly disgusting,” Anja remarks. “I’m guessing this is _not_ what it looked like before?”

“No, not at all,” I reply. “I have yet to see anything like this. Got any ideas, Ted?”

“I don’t think that this transformation happened overnight,” he comments.

“Hey! There’s something on top of it!” Nova shouts, pointing.

I squint my eyes, at first expecting him to just have seen the pulsating… but sure enough, I can just barely make out a figure on top.

I recognize the outline of a cape…

“It’s her! It’s the Dark Trooper!” I tell the others.

“Uh… the Dark Trooper?” Nova questions. “You mean like the class from Star Wars Battlefront II?”

I ignore him. “She’s the one who ambushed me after we got separated at Pavia’s… Let’s try and see if we can get up there and ambush her back.”

“Uh, Ashley… I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” Anja says.

I look back up just in time to see a flash of electricity- she teleported away already.

I let out a sigh. “Oh, well that’s great,” I say.

“Well, if there are no other immediate dangers, I’m going to take this opportunity to report everything we’ve seen today to Lucy,” I explain as I pull out my phone to call her.

“Be my guest. I’m going to rest my legs…” Anja says, sitting down onto the floor.

I start the call, and am greeted with, “Hello there, Ashley.”

“Uh, hi. We have finished sweeping the town like you suggested. We’ve found a few points of interest.

“First of all: We went to the high school and examined it from the outside. It looks like one would expect: the whole building is obscured by dense jungle. We still have no clue who it could belong to, but given that we’re imprisoned there five days a week, we should be able to figure it out eventually.

“Second: We actually think we found a completely different palace. It’s an area that usually is an apartment complex, but now appears as some sort of gothic mansion. Anja has a theory that it might belong to the manager of the complex- but we don’t know that yet.

“Other than those two, we haven’t found any other palaces yet, but we did find something… different. I went back to my church like you suggested, and… it’s all pink and fleshy now. It’s like a huge, pulsating organ. Have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Uh… it looks like what now? A fleshy organ?” Lucy inquires. “No, I have never seen anything like that. I guess it just goes to show that even though I’ve spent decades of my life in this world, it still contains many mysteries. I suppose that’s the nature of research. Is the portal to the SR still inside?”

“Actually… we haven’t checked that yet. We’ll do that right after this. There’s one more thing- the Dark Trooper was just here. She teleported away shortly after we walked up.”

“Shit! It really was a stroke of bad luck that you got onto Moloch’s radar so quickly. If she didn’t try to fight you or confront you… I need a while to think about this. But that’s… not good. Would it be possible to take your posse inside your house with you?”

“Uh… probably, yeah. Why?”

“It’ll make sense later- but basically, I need to get them close enough to my journal to do something.”

“Do I need to bring Ted too?” I ask.

“Who’s Ted?”

Shit! I wasn’t supposed to… actually, you know what? There’s no real reason to hide his existence at this point.

So I spill the beans. “A talking armadillo we met. He’s been helping us out here and there.”

“Huh. I’ve never been able to actually recruit a shadow before. I didn’t think you were much of a people person, but maybe I was wrong.”

“Well, he’s not exactly… it’s complicated.”

“Ah, okay. Well, does he have a smart phone?”

“Uh… no.”

“Then I think it’ll be okay if only your human friends come along. Talk to you later.” She hangs up.

“Okay then… guys, you are formally invited to visit my house after this,” I tell Anja and Nova. I look down at Ted. “She said that you need to have a smart phone, so…”

“No matter,” Ted responded. “I have no patience for pleasantries.”

“Uh… okay. I guess it all works out, then.”

I turn towards the church. “Let’s check and see if the portal is still there, and then we’ll head back.

“Ew… we have to actually go _in_ there?” Anja whines.

“I bet the walls and stuff in there are slimy!” Nova points out. “I wouldn’t want to slip and fall.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll do it myself!” I growl at them. “But for the record, you are both pussies.”

“Tsk… Bitch, shut the fuck up!” Nova protests. “You know what? Fuck you. I’ll do it.”

“No, I’ll do it. You never saw it before, so you won’t know what to look for,” I argue. And so, I head inside the church, this time going in through the front like I normally would’ve.

Nova is right- everything is slimy. The whole building looks just like the outside, and the slight pulsation makes it hard to walk through. I step very carefully through the entrance hall.

Jeez, what happened to this place? I remember back to how it looked the first time I was here. I do remember there being more veins inside than there were anywhere else… perhaps that was the early stages of this building becoming a giant, human heart?

I manage to tiptoe into the sanctuary, where I see that the portal is indeed still there… sort of. It seems to have a different property- it has lost it shimmer. Instead of looking like a wall, or any sort of solid substance at all, and now just looks like… a void. I’m curious as to what would happen if I tried to touch it again, but I don’t want to bother walking all the way across the sanctuary to find out, so I leave.

“Okay… it’s still there. I think,” I announce to the others when I return to them. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Alright, lead the way,” Anja says, getting to her feet. “I was saying before… the current rate of inflation is considered acceptable for maintaining a stable economy. I don’t care what the gold bugs say, I think that everything is going to fine if we keep the course with the Federal Reserve.”

I sigh. This is going to be a long walk back.

* * *

After we finally return to the regular world, Anja is kind enough to drive us to my house, though it’s only like less than a block away from where we entered. I can’t believe that it’s not night time yet. The passage of time in the Metaverse plays weird tricks on me. However, it thankfully doesn’t seem to actually throw off my circadian rhythms.

We arrive and walk in through the front door. My mom is in the kitchen, cooking, and my dad is reading in the living room.

“Oh, well look at this!” Mom calls to us, setting down her pan and walking over to greet us. “Hello! I’m Ashley’s mom. As you can probably guess. Let’s see… I’ve met Anja already. And you are…”

“Nova,” Nova mutters. He’s not making eye contact, and is instead staring at the wall awkwardly.

“Nova, huh? Nice to meet you!”

“Is it okay if I bring these two in here?” I ask her. “We wanted to get out of the heat for a little while.”

“No problem! Hmm… Do you two need dinner?” Mom asks.

“What are you having?” Anja inquires.

“Bacon and egg omelets,” my mom explains.

“Breakfast for dinner! I like it,” Anja says, grinning. “Okay, I’ll just have to text my dad and let him know.

“Where’s Zoe?” I ask.

“She should be in her room,” Mom says. “I haven’t seen her since you left.”

“Alright. Follow me,” I tell Anja and Nova.

I walk into the side hallway, turn towards Zoe’s room, and knock on the door. “Hey Zoe. The gang’s all here. Want to join us?”

“Um… In a m-minute,” she calls back. Something’s wrong. I can tell by her voice.

“Can I come in by myself?” I ask.

“Y-yes.”

“Wait here,” I tell the other two. I open the door.

Zoe is currently sitting on her knees on the bed, staring at her phone, and trembling slightly. She’s still wearing the shirt she wore during band, and doesn’t have any pants on. It looks like she got halfway through changing into new clothes and was interrupted.

“What’s going on?” I ask, sitting on the bed next to her.

She hands me her phone, which is showing a recent messaging conversation between her and her brother Collin.

I read through it, and… Oh boy.

“Okay… wow,” I say. “Get yourself dressed, and we’ll discuss this as a group in my room.”

* * *

<Zoe>

“Your brother is right, you do _not_ want to go to one of those places,” Anja is explaining to me. “They’re actually illegal in California and New Jersey. I think they should be illegal everywhere. The conversation around this all started when…”

It’s hard to listen to her. My heart is beating faster than is comfortable. My vision is blurry.

Around me, Ashley is sitting on the bed next to me and is furiously scribbling in that grimy journal and not talking. Anja is sitting backwards in Ashley’s desk chair, ranting away. Nova is on the other end of the bed, just sitting in place and fidgeting, seemingly not knowing what to contribute.

“…and the bill was signed into law by Governor Chris Christie.” Suddenly, Anja stopped. She made eye contact with me, and her expression softened, the previous fervor she had melting away.

“Zoe, you look really anxious about all of this. Here…” Anja hops out of the chair and starts rummaging around Ashley’s desk. After a few seconds, she hands me a pencil and sheet of notebook paper.

“Zoe, I want you to just take a minute and write down… things that you know are true. Things about your surroundings, for example.”

I look down at the paper, and start slowly writing.

“My name is Zoe Parker. I’m the daughter of Abram and Marie Parker. I have three brothers: Patrick, Derrick, and Collin. I’m currently sitting on Ashley’s bed. Her bed sheets are pure white. Her room is fairly organized. The walls are tan and have a bumpy texture. She has a chest of drawers that looks old and ornate on the other side of the room. On the other wall are Ashley’s French horn, her trumpet, and her black Manhasset music stand, that has music piled onto it.”

I take a deep breath and look up from the paper.

“Feel any better?” Anja asks me kindly.

“A little,” I say. I still feel anxious, but I at least feel more focused than before.

Ashley suddenly slams the journal shut. “Anja. Nova. Phones.”

“What about them?” Nova replies.

“Give them to me.”

Anja and Nova look confused, but give their phones to Ashley. Ashley holds the phones near the journal for a few seconds, and then tosses them back to their respective owners.

“Um, okay,” Anja says. “What was that all about?”

“Lucy thinks that Moloch and/or his cohort may try to attack someone in one of our families to keep us down,” Ashley explains. “She gave both of you the app so you can protect them without having to wait for me to get there.”

“Wait a second, hold on,” Anja frets, now looking a bit panicky. “How can that even happen? Nobody in our families have palaces or personas or anything.”

“There are other ways of hurting someone using the Metaverse,” Ashley explains. “They’re just rather more… complicated. If you’re doing to do good in the world, it’s usually best to just focus on fighting those who have palaces. If you’re trying to do evil… all options are on the table.”

“How will we know if someone comes to our place in the Metaverse?” Nova asks, deeply focused on the conversation for once.

Ashley flips the journal around and shows the pink gem on the cover. “I didn’t realize this, because I always keep this thing hidden away, but the gem has the ability to detect Metaversal activity. It will shine very brightly if someone messing around in the area. When this happens, I will call your phones and we will all enter in unison. But this means that you all have to keep your ringers on while you’re sleeping.”

“That’s okay,” Anja says. “Nobody ever messages me other than you three, so it’s not like I’m going to be kept up by my notifications.”

“Also… another thing,” Ashley continues. “This situation with Zoe’s parents is looking like it may become a big problem for us. Lucy thinks that this may not be a coincidence. She thinks that the weird state of the Metaverse version of the Baptist Church is a sign that it may have become some different type of palace. However, we are not sure, so we need to gather more information.”

“So, who do you think it belongs to then?” Anja asks.

“That’s the thing- we don’t know. For now, we should see if tensions escalate further. We may eventually need to go for some… unorthodox options to get to the bottom of this.”

And she doesn’t elaborate on what she means by that.

“Ashley… I’m confused,” I cut into the conversation. “What is it that’s happened to our church?”

“We’re not sure,” she admits. “But probably something very bad. And we may have to take decisive action soon… for your safety.”

I don’t feel anxious anymore. Now, I just feel cold. I feel like I may start trembling again. Ashley scoots over and wraps an arm around me.

Nobody speaks for a while. Ashley and Anja in particular share an extended look. They both have the same expression- it’s one of a mix between horror and uncertainty. Like both of them are thinking, “What have we gotten ourselves into?”

The moment is interrupted by a shout from the next room. “Dinner’s ready!” Ashley’s mom calls to us.


End file.
